Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The words “Wear OS Beta Program” have appeared on the page source of the Android Beta for Pixel website.
- The page source also names the Bluetooth and 4G variants of the Pixel Watch.
- The beta program will likely allow Pixel Watch owners to try a Wear OS 4 beta.
Wear OS 4 is expected to come out later this year. Google released a developer preview in May, but it will be a while before the OS is officially released. But if you want to get your hands on the OS before the rest of the public, you may get your chance through a Wear OS Beta Program.
Discovered by 9to5Google, the words “Wear OS Beta Program” have appeared in the page source of the Android Beta for Pixel website. The page source also appears to name two devices: the Pixel Watch Bluetooth/Wi-Fi and Pixel Watch 4G LTE and Bluetooth/Wi-Fi.
These devices currently run on the latest released version of Wear OS, which is Wear OS 3.5. If Google is working on a beta program for the Pixel Watch, this would likely be a beta for Wear OS 4.
Google already offers a beta program for its Pixel phones that users can opt into. To sign up, you have to log into your Google account to see your eligible devices. From there, you can find your device and click the “Opt in” button. As Google explains:
Enrolled devices will receive continuous beta updates for the duration of the platform’s release cycle including Quarterly Platform Releases (QPRs) followed by the next unreleased platform until you choose to unenroll your device from the program.
We would assume that the setup process for the Pixel Watch’s beta program will be the same. The Pixel Watch will presumably be added to the list of eligible devices, so once you opt-in, you’ll just have to wait for the OTA update to arrive.
Wear OS 4 is expected to bring a variety of improvements that range from better battery life to a faster text-to-speech engine. But arguably, the most notable improvement will be having the ability to backup and restore data.
