In the early days of Google’s wearable platform, smartwatch apps were bundled with their phone counterparts. Android Wear 2.0 has transitioned to a standalone app model as part of the launch of the Play Store on the device. Google now plans to ditch that legacy approach to Wear OS apps next month.
With Android Wear 2.0, Google wanted 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 an on-watch Play Store that allows you to search for and install apps directly.
However, Google allowed developers to continue using the original method of phone app downloads containing a watch version that would then be transferred to the wearable. Nowadays this old embedded app model is “limited to find” in the Wear OS Play Store.
Such apps do not appear in search results, cannot appear in app clusters in the store, and can only be installed from the ‘Apps on your phone’ section of the Play Store on the watch. Additionally, using the legacy embedded model adds excessive bloat to the APK downloaded to a user’s phone, regardless of whether they own a smartwatch or not.
Google will abandon this approach on March 10, when those outdated Wear OS apps will no longer appear in the ‘Apps on your phone’ section, as seen in the cover image above. Since they are effectively undiscovered, end users cannot install those applications on the watch, which is the case for certain sideloaded tools.
Developer Malcolm Bryant first raised this issue today (via Android Police), noting that it “will be more difficult to install several of my utility apps”.
This means that users who want to install WearOS apps from outside the Play Store will have to go through hoops like using ADB over Wi-Fi. Most non-technical users won’t bother.
Google is advising developers to switch to the multi-APK model, while reiterating its “continued commitment and investment in further growth of the Wear OS platform” from the day Made by Google announced its acquisition of Fitbit.
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