The Wear OS H update brings Android Pie to smartwatches

Despite what you may think, Wear OS is not dead. It’s just that smartwatches have become an increasingly competitive space. Google rebranded their smartwatch operating system from “Android Wear” earlier this year and has since spent a bit of time refining the platform. Google has done this to help revitalize OEM interest, with some manufacturers such as Motorola going as far as to drop out entirely of the ecosystem back in 2016. Wear OS 2.2, (dubbed the “H” update) is here, and one of the little-known facts about the update is that it brings existing Wear OS smartwatches up to Android Pie. Here are the biggest changes, as outlined by Google in their announcement.

Wear OS H Update Changelog

Battery Saver Mode Updates:

This update extends your battery life even further by turning on Battery Saver to only display the time once your battery falls below 10%.

Improved Off Body Efficiency:

After 30 minutes of inactivity, your watch will go into deep sleep mode to conserve battery.

Smart App Resume for all Apps:

You can now easily pick up where you left off across all apps on your watch.

Two Step Power Off:

You can now turn off your watch in two easy steps. To turn off your watch, simply hold the power button until you see the power off screen and then select ‘power off’ or ‘restart’

Credits: Redditor /u/HStark_666 posting on /r/WearOS

Why is it called H?

We don’t know why it’s the “H” update. It’s not as if Google has actually used any of the other letters in the alphabet when naming their earlier Wear OS platform release. We still don’t even know what it stands for. Regardless, the “H” update brings the long-awaited Android Pie platform update with background jobs and alarms and not App Buckets after Google realised their existence doesn’t really fit into existing usage patterns. It also has all the features that we saw in the Developer Preview released last March.

There is no confirmed list of devices that will receive the update, however, compatible devices are expected to receive updates over the next few months.