In the early days of Google’s wearable platform, smartwatch applications were integrated with their phone equivalents. Android Wear 2.0 switched to a standalone app model as part of the introduction of the Play Store on the device. Google now plans to discontinue this legacy approach for Wear OS apps next month.
With Android Wear 2.0, Google decided to make its wearables more independent and able to perform tasks without having to use the paired phone. One way to achieve this was through a Play Store on the watch that allows you to browse directly and install apps.
However, Google allowed developers to continue using the original method in which phone app downloads included a version of the watch that would then be transferred to the wearable. Today, this legacy integrated application model has “limited discoverability” on the Play Store Wear OS.
These apps do not appear in search, cannot appear in app clusters in the store, and can only be installed via the “Apps on your phone” section of the Play Store on your watch. In addition, the use of the legacy embedded model increases the volume of the APK downloaded to the user’s phone, regardless of whether he has a smartwatch or not.
Google is abandoning this approach on March 10, when these legacy Wear OS apps will no longer appear in the “Apps on your phone” section – as seen in the cover image above. Because they are effectively undetectable, end users will not be able to install these applications on their watch, which is the case with certain sideloading tools.
Developer Malcolm Bryant raised this issue for the first time today (via Android Police) and noted how “it will be more difficult to install several of my utility applications”.
This means that, for users to install WearOS apps from outside the Play Store, they will have to go through several obstacles, such as using ADB over Wi-Fi. Most non-technical users will not be bothered.
Google advises developers to switch to the multi-APK model, while reiterating its “continued commitment and investment in further growth of the Wear OS platform” since the day Made by Google announced it was acquiring Fitbit .
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