AsteroidOS, a Wear OS alternative for your smartwatch, gets version 1.0 release

AsteroidOS, the creator of an open-source smartwatch platform of the same name, has released version 1.0 of its software (via SlashGear). AsteroidOS announced the launch on Twitter yesterday and it’s compatible with a range of current smartwatches.

AsteroidOS has been in development since 2015 and appeared in Alpha back in 2016 (when we first reviewed it), but it hasn’t been on our radar much since.

An alternative to Google’s Wear OS, AsteroidOS includes expected smartwatch features like an alarm clock, stopwatch, agenda, calculator, weather updates, notifications and a selection of watch faces (no other third-party apps are supported currently). It’s also said to offer around the same standby times as Wear OS watches — up to 48 hours.

The OS is light on fancy functionality right now, and it’s only compatible with Android phones (not iOS devices), but its SDK has just been available for other developers to get involved; hopefully, we’ll see more watch faces and apps land on the platform in the future.

Which watches support AsteroidOS?

AsteroidOS is available for several watches (though not all of them have the same degree of polish) and it can be flashed just like software on Android phones. The list of supported watches includes:

• ASUS ZenWatch
• ASUS ZenWatch 2
• ASUS ZenWatch 3
• LG G Watch
• LG Watch Urbane
• LG G Watch R
• Sony Smartwatch 3

The OS itself clearly isn’t ready to go head-to-head with Google’s platform, but that it offers a viable alternative at all is exciting. It’s not like there’s much happening with Wear OS these days, anyway.

Find out more over at AsteroidOS.org and give us your thoughts on the platform in the comments.