Wear OS 7 announced: A more efficient and intelligent smartwatch platform

Google has already made plenty of announcements at its I/O developer conference, but the company still had a major surprise as it just revealed Wear OS 7 for smartwatches.

Google promises that Wear OS 7 is smarter and more efficient than its predecessor. In fact, the company says users upgrading their watches from Wear OS 6 to Wear OS 7 could see a 10% improvement in battery life.

The company adds that “select” watches launching later in 2026 will also gain access to Gemini Intelligence for agentic tasks. It didn’t reveal more details in this regard, but it’s a safe bet that some of these watches will likely be powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, which brings on-device AI smarts to smartwatches.

The smart features don’t end here, as Google says Wear OS 7 will also let you launch and track app automations for “selected phone apps.” The company gives the example of placing an order via DoorDash. The firm is also introducing an AppFunctions API so developers can integrate assistants and agents, such as Gemini, into their apps. Google gives the example of starting a run via the Samsung Health app by simply telling Gemini to “start tracking my run.”

Wear OS 7: What else to expect?

Don’t care about AI? Then you’ll be glad to know that Wear OS 7 has plenty of other notable improvements. Google is now offering “flexible and dynamic” widgets with two layouts (small and large, corresponding with 2×1 and 2×2 widgets on phones). Check out the company’s screenshots below.

Google is also bringing Live Updates to watches as part of Wear OS 7. This will give users important, real-time info with a quick glance at the wrist. “For supporting OEMs, Live Updates published by your phone app will also be bridged to users’ watches,” Google adds. Check out the screenshots below, showing Live Updates for a food delivery app.

Wear OS 7 also brings a couple of media-related additions. For one, we’ve now got per-app media auto-launch controls. In plain English, this means you can choose which apps will show media controls on your watch when they play media on your phone. Secondly, Wear OS 7 now offers a remote audio output switcher in the system media controls, so you can easily switch audio output between your watch, earphones, phone, and more.

Wear OS 7 also brings a native fitness tracking experience called Wear Workout Tracker, which means app developers don’t need to build their own fitness tracking suite from scratch.

“The workout tracker provides a rich standardized workout tracking experience which includes heart rate monitoring, media control, and a collection of other useful features to help you reduce development investment while guaranteeing a high-quality experience for your users,” Google explains. The firm adds that it’s working with ASICS Runkeeper to bring this experience to their users.

Finally, Wear OS 7 heralds the arrival of the Watch Face Format v5. This format has several additions to make building watch faces easier, such as auto-size improvements, new alignment options, and more.

Keen to try Wear OS 7? Google says you can try it in the developer-focused Wear OS 7 Canary Emulator ahead of the launch later this year.