Google's Wear OS Gets New Spotify, Notes, and Transit Card Wallet Support: All the Details

Some of the Wear OS-related announcements made at Google's recent I/O 2023 event now look to be ready, as the search giant recently stated that it will be introducing new capabilities to its wristwatch platform, which would soon be upgraded to Wear OS 4. Google has announced that the Spotify and Keep applications for Wear OS would receive new tiles, as well as new features for its Google Wallet app for customers in the United States. Users will be able to access the upgrades via their respective applications in the coming weeks.

Google unveiled three new tiles for the Spotify app for Wear OS in its next feature drop, along with numerous other additions coming to Android. The three tiles are for podcasts, heavily played tunes, and an AI-enabled DJ tool. The DJ tool will construct a playlist of songs, stream episodes, and podcasts based on the user's preferences.

Google's Keep note-taking software for Wear OS also receives an important upgrade, allowing users to add numerous tiles. These tiles may be customised by pinning notes or even to-do lists to them. Adding notes or lists on the watch face definitely makes it easier to skim over them with a single swipe from the watch display.

The option to tap and ride has also been provided for US customers (mainly in Washington DC and the San Francisco Bay Area). Commuters who own a Wear OS wristwatch may use Google Wallet to pay with their SmartTrip and Clipper cards.

The aforementioned improvements are likely to operate on all Wear OS-powered devices, not only Google's Pixel Watch, which is only available in a few regions across the world.

Google unveiled many new features for Wear OS 4, the newest version of the wristwatch operating system, at its recent I/O 2023 developer event. The major upgrade that is planned to be rolled out to Pixel Watch users in the coming months would provide a lot more functionality to such smartwatches by include services such as Gmail, Calendar, and Google Home. Once the platform's native software is successfully ported to Wear OS, the upgrade is expected to include capabilities such as WhatsApp call functionality. The software is currently only accessible in beta form.

Battery life improvements and the ability to generate backups and restore them to other watches are also planned in Wear OS 4. There's also a new Watch Face Format, created in collaboration with Samsung, that will assist developers in creating more consistent watch faces for the platform with simplicity and consistency.