Google confirms which watches will receive Wear OS 3 update

The search giant has finally confirmed what the exact requirements are going to be to run the new Wear OS 3 unified platform on currently existing smartwatches. It has also revealed that the next “Wear” operating system will be called – Wear OS 3.

Google has shared some more details about the new WearOS 3 unified platform. The article also mentions what smartwatches will be eligible for the brand new unified platform in an upcoming update, and here they are:

“Wear OS devices that will be eligible for upgrade include Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, TicWatch Pro 3 Cellular/LTE, TicWatch E3 and follow on TicWatch devices, as well as Fossil Group’s new generation of devices launching later this year.”

The list includes:

• Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 GPS
• Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Cellular/LTE
• Mobvoi TicWatch E3
• Future TicWatch devices as well as Fossil Group’s next (6th) generation of devices launching later this year

If your smartwatch is eligible for the update, Google expects their “partners to be able to roll out the system update starting in mid to second half of 2022”. And although Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon 3100 chips were capable of supporting the new platform, it seems that Google doesn’t want to support it at all.

Unfortunately, if you own any compatible and eligible smartwatches and want to upgrade to the new software, you’ll have to reset your device once again. By this point, however, you’re likely used to it, as you were required to reset every time you switched to a new device. Hopefully, the new software update will address that too.

“For the previous generation of Wear OS smartwatches, a system update to Wear OS 3 will bring the benefit of many of the new experiences, and in some limited cases, the user experience will also be impacted. The extent of changes brought to Wear OS 3 will also require you to upgrade and reset your smartwatch to the way it was when you first got it (“factory settings”).”

Currently, we know about only two brand new watches that will reportedly come with Wear OS 3 pre-installed, and those are the leaked Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic smartwatches. These will be officially unveiled on August 11, at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event and run Samsung’s version of WearOS 3, called One UI Watch.