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With the launch of the Pixel Watch earlier this month, Google has not been shy to let us all know that they are committed to the success of Wear OS. However, even with Wear OS 3 being available for some time now on a limited amount of watches, it is hoped that the Pixel Watch will be the wearable that will bring it wider adoption.
That said, there cannot be wider adoption if there are no apps to support this endeavor. This is probably why Google is making a concerted effort to make sure its own apps are updated and ready with Wear OS-compatible versions. This is reportedly the case with the Google News app, which, as reported by 9to5Google based on a find by a Redditor, is showing signs of being almost Wear OS ready.
The discovery was made merely by chance when the aforementioned Redditor used Google Assistant on the Pixel Watch to ask to open Google News, which promptly took him to an install page. Since the app was technically not ready, the listing for the app opened but with an error message that it was not compatible with his device. That would have been the end of it for most people, but this eagle-eyed user scrolled down further and noticed that there were screenshots present showing what the UI for the Wear OS Google News app would look like. Below are the app screenshots provided by 9to5Google:
From what we can see in the screenshots, the app will feature glanceable headlines, but it isn’t one hundred percent clear that we will be able to actually read the news articles on the watch. Of course, it would definitely be difficult to reformat news stories in a way that can be read on a watch’s screen without having to scroll indefinitely. If you look at the last screenshot, there is a link to open the article on Bloomberg, but by using your smartphone, which is what I think the Google News Wear OS app will end up being – glanceable headlines with links to read the full story on your phone.
We will have to wait until the app is properly launched for Wear OS to see what Google actually has in store for it. In the meantime, let us know in the comments if a Google News app is something you think we need on a watch and how you would expect it to function.
Featured image by Triyansh Gill on Unsplash
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