Cory Gunther
After teasing an official Home app for Wear OS back in May, Google is finally ready to let users control home devices from their wrists. The Google Home app is now available for watches, but we have both good and bad news.
With the release of Google’s first watch in October, the Pixel Watch, we’re now seeing Wear OS compatibility for the Home app. It’s worth noting that Google says this is a “public preview,” meaning users could experience bugs or issues as the team continues developing the application.
The official Google Home app is available for all smartwatches running Wear OS 3 or above, which means your older watches are incompatible. At least right now. We’re unsure if older watches will ever get access, so we’ll have to wait and see.
On the plus side, it doesn’t look like this is a Pixel exclusive. The Home app works on any Wear OS 3 and above watch, including Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch 5 series and others from different manufacturers.
FINALLY! The Google Home app for Wear OS is now available!
Sadly, it only works on Wear OS 3 and above. I tried sideloading it onto a Wear OS 2 watch, but it failed because it requires SDK version 30 and above (Android 11+). pic.twitter.com/gUUXp4ytko
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 6, 2022
Oddly enough, the app is very limited in its current form. Considering Google’s been working on it since at least May, we were hoping for a more feature-complete system. Expect more capabilities to arrive in the coming weeks and months.
For now, all your smart home controls are quite limited, but it gives you a quick view of each room that’s already set up and used inside the Google Home app on your phone. You can open each room, access the controls, and adjust lights or temperatures. There are quick on/off toggles and speaker controls, but you only have a few options.
If you try to do something too advanced inside the Google Home app on Wear OS, you’ll get a prompt to open the app on your phone. That said, we’re hoping the newly redesigned Home app Google announced this week, which leaked the next day, could offer an improved experience once it officially arrives.
via XDA Developers
