Wear OS smartwatches have come a long way, but there are a few key areas where Apple Watch still leads the way. Hopefully Google takes a few notes with future Wear OS updates.
5A Unified Health App
One of the main issues that still remain with Wear OS smartwatches, like the Google Pixel Watch 3 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, is that each manufacturer uses its own app to collect and display health data.
For example, despite being a great smartwatch, as we highlight inour Pixel Watch 3 review, Google’s smartwatches still rely on the Fitbit app, while Samsung Galaxy watches use Samsung Health. There’s no unified health tracking app that works across all Wear OS devices.
Apple, on the other hand, uses a single Fitness app to show all data collected from the Apple Watch. You can simply open it and see everything from steps taken, calories burned, distance moved, and even the quality of your sleep—right from the home screen. With Wear OS, you have to install the brand’s companion app to access health data, since Google doesn’t provide a universal solution.
4Dynamic Workout Goal Adjustment
Most Wear OS smartwatches offer excellent activity tracking with support for many workout types and a ton of detailed data. you’re able to set goals like calories burned, daily steps, and standing hours during setup. However, once these are set, they’re static. You can’t adjust them for a specific day, and if you miss a goal once, you lose your streak.
Let’s be honest—you’re not going to feel like working out every day. There are times you might skip a workout due to work or recovery, but still feel pressured to close that ring. I’d love to see Wear OS watches adopt customizable daily goals.
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Apple introduced customizable goals in watchOS 11, and it lets you adjust goals (or pause them if you can’t complete them for any reason) so you don’t break your streak. It’s a feature I use frequently on my Apple Watch and one Wear OS has yet to copy.
3Walkie-Talkie Feature
While Wear OS watches have caught up with Apple in health tracking and core features, it’s time to bring in some fun elements. One feature I’d love to see on Wear OS is a version of Apple’s Walkie-Talkie functionality.
This feature, as the name suggests, lets you send instant voice messages, just like old-school walkie-talkies. It works over the internet, so you can talk to any friend with an Apple Watch no matter where they are. It may not be the most essential tool, but it’s fun and surprisingly handy in crowded environments.
2More Streamlined Device Pairing
Pairing a Wear OS smartwatch with your phone is still a bit of a chore. Yes, most newer models support Google Fast Pair, which shows a pop-up when the watch is nearby, but you still have to go through a full setup process. More often than not, you also have to download a brand-specific app.
This is an area where Google should follow Apple’s lead. Apple offers a single Watch app that handles everything. Google should offer a unified Wear OS companion app that works with all devices for basic setup and syncing, regardless of the brand. Brand-specific apps could still offer extra features, but a base app would greatly simplify things.
1Software Updates Need to Be More Seamless
One major issue Google needs to fix in Wear OS—and something Apple has nailed down—is software updates. Apple rolls out updates for its Apple Watches quite frequently, and all compatible models receive the update at the same time. You never have to wait. This is a nice part of Apple’s unified approach to software, and one place the fragmentation of Android really shines through as a problem.
This is entirely different from the Wear OS ecosystem, where Samsung and Google smartwatches often get the latest versions of Wear OS first. From there, the updates is rolled out to other Wear OS devices in batches.
Updates can even take months to arrive on some devices. While Google has mostly resolved update fragmentation on Android smartphones, with brands now rolling out updates faster than ever, this is still something that needs fixing on Wear OS watches.
On the whole, Google has improved Wear OS to a level that’s quite comparable to the Apple Watch. However, there are still a few things the Android smartwatch ecosystem lacks.
These features aren’t deal-breakers for me, but there are a fewfeatures I won’t buy a smartwatch without. Despite how far Wear OS has come, I still can’t move on from my Apply Watch. Maybe one day, though.
