According to a report, Google has started testing Wear OS 5.1, the future operating system (OS) for Android-based wearables like smartwatches. The Pixel Watch 2 is reported to be running test releases of the operating system, which increases the possibility that it is built on a separate version of Android.
Google debuted the Wear OS 5 platform in May at I/O 2024, showcasing several key features, including a grid-based app launcher and improvements to the Watch Face Format.
Wear OS 5.1 might be built on Android 15, the next operating system for Android smartphones, according to a report from Android Authority. It is claimed that this will break the pattern set by Wear OS in past years, which has been based on the Android version from the preceding year. For example, Wear OS 3, which debuted in 2018, was built on Android 13, which was launched in 2022.
When the Wear OS 5, which runs on Android 14 and debuted with the Galaxy Watch 7 in July as One UI 6 Watch, a similar pattern was noticed. If this rumored OS is released, it will be Google’s first intermediate point upgrade in two years; Wear OS 3.5 was the most recent release, which happened in October 2022.
The report also notes that the tech giant may decide to change the moniker before it is officially released, so it is not official.
It has been reported that the test builds of Wear OS 5.1 have identifiers beginning with “AP4A.” On the other hand, neither the features nor the release schedule are disclosed.
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Google recently announced that watch faces created for smartwatches without utilizing the Watch Face Format (WFF) will no longer be available on the Google Play Store starting with Wear OS 5.
Wear OS 2 or later smartwatches will continue to support the existing non-WFF watch faces, however, data will not be transferred if the user chooses to move to a Wear OS 5-powered watch. It’s also possible that some watch faces cannot be downloaded.
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