14 DAY TRIAL // Google has announced that it’s retiring the legacy embedded app model for Wear OS, as the company explains it has a very limited discoverability.
Back in the days when Wear OS was still a new thing, Google used an approach that made sense at that point, especially as the company wanted to pave the way for a large app ecosystem on its wearable platform. So the original app model was based on app downloads powered by the phone version, with the system then transferring the necessary files to the wearable device.
Beginning with Wear OS 2.0, the search giant changed this approach and allowed developers to publish full versions of their wearable apps, with devices even coming with a dedicated Play store for more convenient app installation.
“Wear OS using a legacy embedded app model have a limited discoverability in Google Play Store for Wear OS. Such apps do not show up in search, cannot be featured in app clusters across the store, and can only be installed via the ‘Apps on your phone’ section of the on-watch Play Store. Additionally, using the legacy embedded model adds excessive bloat to the APK that is downloaded onto a user’s phone, whether or not they own a smartwatch,” Google explains in an email to developers.
Legacy app model getting the ax next month
As a result, the search giant says, the original app model is being retired.
“Starting from March 10, Wear OS apps using the legacy embedded app model will no longer show up in the “Apps on your phone” section and will effectively be undiscoverable inside the on-watch Play Store,” the company explains.
It remains to be seen how many devs would be impacted, but on the other hand, the change shows Google is committed to making the experience with Wear OS more straightforward for everybody.