Developers are seeing increased adoption of their Wear OS 3-optimized apps
Until August last year, it felt like Google had abandoned Wear OS as a platform. Samsung’s Tizen-based smartwatches dominated the list of the best Android smartwatches, with Wear OS barely getting any updates and the app ecosystem all but dead. That changed with Google and Samsung teaming up to launch the Galaxy Watch 4 running Wear OS 3, which had the best bits of both Wear OS and Tizen. It was a fresh start for the platform, and this year, the launch of the Galaxy Watch 5 series and the Pixel Watch has further bolstered the platform. Google’s efforts are now bearing fruits, with the company seeing 3x as many device activations this year.
Samsung is reportedly reaping most of the benefits, as it dominates the Wear OS market. It is estimated to have shipped over 2.8 million smartwatches in Q2 this year. The number will likely increase even more in Q3 following the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro launch. And while the Google Pixel Watch might not set the sales chart on fire due to its limited availability and below-par reviews, it will help boost developer confidence in the platform.
Google notes in its announcement that developers investing in the Wear OS ecosystem are already seeing the benefits. After rebuilding its app for Wear OS 3, the popular to-do app Todoist has seen its installation rate grow by a whopping 50%. Strava, one of the best fitness apps for Android, has seen a 30% increase in daily active users since launching its Wear OS app that takes advantage of the new APIs to deliver a better user experience. On the other hand, by using Compose for Wear OS, Outdooractive reduced its app development time by 30%. Google itself redesigned the Wear OS Play store recently to aid app discoverability. Combined, these improvements and numbers will act as a catalyst to get more developers to invest in Wear OS 3 apps.
