Gemini finally made its way to Wear OS watches in July as part of Google’s broader push to get its AI chatbot assistant on more platforms.
It’s flat-out replacing Google Assistant — Gemini comes as an update to the Assistant app that disables the legacy digital assistant in favor of its AI successor.
I’ve been using Gemini on my Wear OS watch for a while now, and I’m really liking it.
Gemini integration is one of the biggest upgrades Android watches have gotten in a while.
It’s the same Gemini you know from Android
Gemini on Wear OS feels the same as it does on Android proper, just with a more watch-friendly interface.
So far as I can tell, Gemini is able to do just about all the same things on your watch as it can on your phone.
You can ask it to do all the typical digital assistant tasks, like setting reminders, sending texts, and controlling smart home devices.
Gemini’s been known to have some specific compatibility gaps where the legacy Assistant worked fine — one AP reader notes that it can’t arm their Vivint connected security system, for example.
But I haven’t had any trouble controlling my Philips Hue lights or Nest thermostat using Gemini, on Wear OS or other platforms.
The biggest enhancement with Gemini is that your watch can now answer basically any question that might come to mind, and you don’t need to try to phrase it in any particular way.
Where the old Google Assistant would often struggle with nuanced or multipart questions, returning a potentially irrelevant snippet from the web at best or an error at worst, Gemini doesn’t have this problem.
As on other platforms, your queries can be vague or rambling, and Gemini on Wear OS will still generally do a good job parsing what it is you’re asking and returning relevant information.
On my Pixel Watch 3, I asked “What’s that big pointy building in Paris, when was it built, and what’s it made of,” and Gemini returned a single-sentence response that answered all those questions (the Eiffel Tower; between 1887 and 1889; and wrought iron).
Accuracy can still be an issue. AI chatbots like Gemini are known to confidently present untrue statements as if they’re fact.
The Wear OS interface still carries a fine-print disclaimer to double-check the info Gemini provides, which is always good practice when using AI.
You’re able to rate Gemini’s answers by tapping a thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon under each response.
Gemini Live isn’t an option on Wear OS, so you can’t use your watch to have a conversation-style interaction with the AI assistant.
However, you can string together multiple queries on the same subject, and Gemini will know from context what you mean.
So, you can ask for a restaurant’s hours of operation in one query, then for directions to that restaurant in the next, without specifying where you want to navigate to.
A more cohesive assistant experience
When Gemini first replaced Google Assistant on Android phones, the legacy Assistant was still the only option on Wear OS.
This caused a bit of a discrepancy. For years, saying “Hey Google” to any device that understood the hotword was a consistent experience, connecting you to the same Google Assistant everywhere.
However, with Gemini on your phone and Assistant on your watch, depending on which device heard the wake word, you were liable to get completely different responses to the same query. That was frustrating.
As of this update, though, your Wear OS watch will finally reply to Hey Google the same way your phone does.
Gemini is generally better at answering spoken queries than Assistant ever was, and it feels just as snappy on Wear OS, so this is a solid upgrade. Now if only Google could give its smart speakers the same treatment.
