Adjusting your smart home lights has always been simple enough, but Google has been steadily improving the experience. Ahead of the Google Home redesign, a smaller update to the app slightly altered the way the light controls look. Now, with the refresh rolling out, you’ll be able to manage your lights right from your Wear OS device.
Along with a brand-new look, Wear OS smartwatches will now give you the ability to control your home’s smart lights from your wrist. In addition to basic on, off, and brightness controls, today’s news clarifies that we’ll also be getting full color control on Wear OS for supported RGB smart lights. It’s still unclear how this might work for lights that only offer color temperature controls like Philips Hue White Ambiance bulbs.
Much like the redesign, this update isn’t available to everyone just yet, but it will be in the coming weeks. Considering the extent of the changes, it will likely require a new app version rather than a server-side switch. Once you’ve received the update on your phone, you’ll be able to start adjusting your lights from your watch however you see fit.
Wear OS watches have yet to receive the Material You theming their smartphone cousins have had for a few years now, but Google’s design language will eventually land on smartwatches — just don’t expect it before Wear OS 4 launches, which is likely to happen this fall. Meanwhile, Samsung has been working alongside Google to improve the look and feel of its wearable operating system by making it easier for artists to develop their own watch faces.
Aesthetics aren’t the only thing Google is improving for its smartwatches. With Wear OS 4, the company wants to double down on its fitness features with improved period tracking and detectable golf swings, which should be a boon for some of the best Android smartwatches.
