{"id":100218,"date":"2022-10-18T03:17:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T03:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wear-os-app-hits-50-million-downloads-after-pixel-watch-ditches-it\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T03:17:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T03:17:56","slug":"wear-os-app-hits-50-million-downloads-after-pixel-watch-ditches-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wear-os-app-hits-50-million-downloads-after-pixel-watch-ditches-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Wear OS app hits 50 million downloads after Pixel Watch ditches it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The official \u201cWear OS\u201d app has reached a new downloads milestone in the Play Store just as the Pixel Watch and other newer smartwatches make it irrelevant.<\/p>\n<p>Both as a minor marker of an app&#8217;s legitimacy and something of a fun high-score indicator, the Google Play Store shows the number of times an app has been downloaded to an Android device.  Rather than offering the exact number, the Play Store instead shows each app&#8217;s download count through milestones like 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000.<\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, Google&#8217;s official app for Wear OS watches \u2014 formally \u201cWear OS by Google Smartwatch\u201d \u2014 reached a new milestone, garnering 50 million downloads since its original release in June 2014. From the time of that original launch until the release of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, every single smartwatch that runs on Android Wear or Wear OS needed to be set up with this dedicated companion app.<\/p>\n<p>That all changed with the release of watches based on Wear OS 3, like the Galaxy Watch 4, Montblanc Summit 3, and Google&#8217;s own Pixel Watch.  Instead, each of those watches requires its own dedicated companion app, a new requirement with Wear OS 3.<\/p>\n<p>The Wear OS app&#8217;s new irrelevance makes the timing of this latest Play Store downloads milestone \u2014 just days after the launch of the Pixel Watch \u2014 all the more interesting.  That said, it&#8217;s possible that those Wear OS 3 watches may still be contributing to the download count in their own way.<\/p>\n<p>Each of the older \u201cWear OS 2\u201d smartwatches relied on the wearable version of this Wear OS app to provide certain features and updates.  For example, when Tiles were first added to the platform, they did so through an update to this same app on watches.  Our APK Insight team has noted that the Pixel Watch has its own unique version of this Wear OS app, though we&#8217;re not currently sure what role it plays.<\/p>\n<p>All the same, it&#8217;s fun to see the original Android Wear and Wear OS companion app have one last moment in the spotlight before becoming fully irrelevant.  Even the most prolific Wear OS watchmaker, Fossil, has just today begun upgrading some of its recent models to Wear OS 3, ditching Google&#8217;s companion app for one of its own.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-more-on-wear-os\">More on Wear OS:<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ad-disclaimer-container\">\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\"><em>FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.<\/em> more.<\/p>\n<p><!-- post ad --><\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i>Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!-- youtube embed --><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pixel 7: Last minute leaks!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GqCOSeOPDSE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The official \u201cWear OS\u201d app has reached a new downloads milestone in the Play Store just as the Pixel Watch and other newer smartwatches make it irrelevant. Both as a minor marker of an app&#8217;s legitimacy and something of a fun high-score indicator, the Google Play Store shows the number of times an app has &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wear-os-app-hits-50-million-downloads-after-pixel-watch-ditches-it\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wear OS app hits 50 million downloads after Pixel Watch ditches it<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105858,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/what-makes-the-pixel-watch-a-google-pixel-device\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":0},"title":"What makes the Pixel Watch a Google Pixel device?","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In the broadest sense, Pixel phones are differentiated by AI and ML-powered features. The Pixel Watch \u2014 in the modern era \u2014 is Made by Google's third form factor with \u201cPixel\u201d branding. As a first-generation device, its claim to that name is somewhat more tenuous. So far with Pixel The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100586,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fossil-wear-os-3-update-removes-google-fit-and-assistant-too\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":1},"title":"Fossil Wear OS 3 update removes Google Fit and Assistant too","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Wear OS 3 is finally heading to users, as the platform's reboot is now rolling out to Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches. Unfortunately, the update also removes Google Fit from Fossil's smartwatches. Google first unveiled Wear OS 3 in mid-2021, but it's taken well over a year for the update to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/9to5google.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/10\/screenshot-2022-10-17-11-46-06-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":100176,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fossils-first-wear-os-3-smartwatch-is-a-mild-refresh-of-last-years-model\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":2},"title":"Fossil&#8217;s first Wear OS 3 smartwatch is a mild refresh of last year&#8217;s model","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Fossil is acting on its promise to release Wear OS 3 watches, but you might want to temper your expectations. The fashion brand has introduced its first Wear OS 3 model, the Gen 6 Wellness Edition, and the name says a lot about it \u2014 it's a refresh of last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":103872,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/googles-pixel-watch-is-great-if-you-want-to-keep-it-simple\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":3},"title":"Google&#8217;s Pixel Watch Is Great If You Want to Keep It Simple","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pixel Watch is a gorgeous Fitbit tracker. photo: Florence Ion \/ GizmodoGoogle's Pixel Watch is the Android smartwatch we've been waiting for a long time. It's light, slim, and easy to wear, and its pebble-like construction matches everything. Some people might complain its 41mm size is a little too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106107,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wear-os-backups-will-cover-watch-faces-more-for-google-wallet\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":4},"title":"Wear OS backups will cover watch faces, more for Google Wallet","date":"October 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Like on phones, many Wear OS features are delivered via Google Play services and the latest version reveals what backups on watches will cover, as well as more features for Google Wallet. About APK Insight: In this \u201cAPK Insight\u201d post, we've decompiled the latest version of an application that Google\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":103071,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/google-wi-fi-provisioner-update-rolling-out-via-play-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":100218,"position":5},"title":"Google Wi-Fi Provisioner update rolling out via Play Store","date":"October 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Google this morning rolled out an update to the \u201cGoogle Wi-Fi Provisioner\u201d app and made it available via the Play Store in the process for faster releases. The Google Wi-Fi Provisioner is used to \u201cProvision and manage Wi-Fi network configurations.\u201d There are no other details with (old) generic screenshots used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/9to5google.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/01\/skagen_falster_3_kygo.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}