'We’re bringing the watch closer to the rest of the Android family.' Google I/O may have sidelined Wear OS 7, but an important new update is quietly rolling out — and it's all about AI

While Google's I/O keynote was packed with announcements about big changes to Google Search and Gemini, and features designed to usher in the age of the 'agentic web', we didn't hear much about wearables. However, Google is bringing some changes to Wear OS 7 for users of the best Android watches, with the rollout set to begin later this year, although an exact date hasn't been specified.

To start with, Google's Gemini Intelligence, its comprehensive, personalized AI assistant, is coming to Wear OS as well as the rest of the Android family. You'll be able to interact with Gemini on-wrist as well as on your Android phone, getting all the same agentic help Google spent most of its keynote promising.

Android's Live Updates feature is coming to watches. This innovative Android phone feature offers a summary of important updates on an ongoing task, such as a pizza order or turn-by-turn directions. You now get a timeline on your watch with a small square marker tracking its progress, along with a summary of your order's status, a countdown to your next turning, or other handy updates.

Google is also working on an AppFunctions API (for those not in the know, API stands for 'application programming interface'), which allows developers to "integrate their apps with agents and assistants, like Google Gemini".

Using a smartwatch's microphone, users can issue a voice command, and a purpose-built AI agent will take it from there, completing tasks for them. Clever.

According to Google, users will also "be able to invoke and track automated app tasks, for selected phone apps, directly from their watch, like placing an order with DoorDash!" This feature will be implemented without the need for any development tinkering, suggesting Google sees voice as the future of watches.

Google isn't the only smartwatch manufacturer anticipating for AI interaction in this way — Coros is also prioritizing voice as a key way to interact with AI from wearables, with CEO Lewis Wu suggesting that a future-proof smartwatch is one with a microphone.

There's also a new standardized Wear Workout Tracker feature that will be part of future exercise apps, making it easy for developers of fitness apps to add things like media control to their on-watch interfaces. Speaking of media control, that's also getting an update so that controls auto-launch after you press Play — so, for example, if you start playing a song on Spotify, the controls will automatically pop up on your Pixel Watch 4.

Finally, expect battery life on Wear OS watches to improve by around 10%, fulfilling our predictions, and helping them to perform all these new AI-powered tasks.

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