The transition to Wear OS 3 was a mess, to say the least. But it’s not over. Google is now depreciating support for Google Assistant on Wear OS 2 smartwatches. Every Wear OS device that launched before the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is affected by this change, including relatively new products like the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 and Fossil Gen 5. Presumably, Google is trying to shed some dead weight, as Google Assistant lacked some core features on Wear OS 2 and never really worked well on the platform.
For Wear OS 2 users who actually use Google Assistant, this is disappointing news. Most Wear OS 2 devices areincapable of running Wear OS 3, as the new operating system requires a somewhat powerful chipset. Not to mention, some Wear OS 3 watches (such as the TicWatch Pro 5) still don’t support Google Assistant, so your upgrade options are extremely limited. You can either buy aGalaxy Watch, aPixel Watch, or theFossil Gen 6.
VariousReddit threadsshow that Google Assistant’s exit from Wear OS 2 began on August 7th or 8th. One week later,9to5Googlediscovered a shutdown noticein the new Google Assistant companion app.Mishaal Rahmanconfirmed the news by sharing a photo of the shutdown notice, which appeared on his TicWatch Pro 3.
Obviously, this isn’t the first time that Google has neglected the Wear OS 2 platform. But this situation was kind of inevitable. The Wear OS ecosystem was outdated and underpowered in 2021—even some of the newest smartwatches were running on six-year-old processors, as Qualcomm continually failed to introduce a good, modern, powerful wearable chipset. By partnering with Samsung and building Wear OS 3 with the Exynos chipset in mind, Google greatly improved Android smartwatches and forced Qualcomm to step up its game. The transition period just sucks, is all.
Every Wear OS 2 smartwatch will lose Google Assistant functionality, though this change may not be immediate for all users. Note thatWear OS 4officially arrived on August 11th (for the newGalaxy Watch 6), so Google may take additional steps to phase out Wear OS 2.
