Order the King of Android! Get your Galaxy S25 Ultra today! Follow us on Google news!

SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a commission.

News For You
Notifications

Wear OS 4 will bring Material You to Galaxy Watches

Watch
By 

Last updated: May 31st, 2023 at 14:23 UTC+02:00

The Wear OS 4 update was announced during the Google I/O 2023 event. Wear OS 4 is based on Android 13, a significant upgrade from Android 11, which formed the base for Wear OS 3.5. Wear OS 4 will be released to the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 5, bringing battery life improvements and better apps. The update will also bring Material You design to the smartwatches.

It was reported a couple of months ago that Google was working on Material You for Wear OS. Now that the Developer Preview version of Wear OS 4 is out, experts have played with it to find the existence of Material You UI design elements in the software. Although the feature wasn't announced by Google, developers have found accent colors in the software, especially in the quick settings section.

It is being reported that Google is now allowing watch faces to report their colors to the operating system via the Wear Watchface API. Those colors can then be used by the operating system in various places, such as buttons, toggles, icons, and even text. Google doesn't seem to have completed the entire implementation of Material You in Wear OS 4, but it is expected that future updates will allow accent colors to be changed based on the watch face.

Android 11 lacked Material You and Google introduced it with Android 12. Since Samsung's smartwatches will get the Wear OS 4 update as a part of One UI 5 Watch later this year, the feature will come to the Galaxy Watch 4 series and the Galaxy Watch 5 series, just as the Color Palette feature came to Galaxy phones and tablets with the One UI 4 update.

Watch Android 13Galaxy Watch 4Galaxy Watch 4 ClassicGalaxy Watch 5Galaxy Watch 5 ProMaterial YouOne UI 5 WatchOne UI WatchOne UI Watch 5Wear OSWear OS 4
Galaxy AI summarized

Scroll for more related content
News For You

You might also like

Why your Galaxy Watch hasn’t backed up to Samsung Cloud in ages

Why your Galaxy Watch hasn’t backed up to Samsung Cloud in ages

If you own a Galaxy Watch, one of the odd things you may have figured out by now is that you can't control when your smartwatch's data and files get backed up to Samsung Cloud. You can't do it manually, and it's almost impossible to predict when the auto backup will happen next. Well, almost. […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 22 hours ago
New OnePlus Watch could destroy Galaxy Watch Ultra in at least one way

New OnePlus Watch could destroy Galaxy Watch Ultra in at least one way

Wear OS has seen a massive rise in adoption after Samsung helped Google develop Wear OS 3.0. Now, more brands are making Wear OS-based smartwatches. One of those brands is OnePlus, and it is aiming to destroy Samsung's flagship smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Ultra, in at least one way. OnePlus Watch 3 has a claimed […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 1 week ago
Get easy access to your favorite workouts on Galaxy Watch

Get easy access to your favorite workouts on Galaxy Watch

Although Galaxy Watches can detect workouts automatically, it's often better to start recording an activity manually, depending on your workout. One issue with the auto-detect feature is that it doesn't always record the exact beginning of your workout. It can miss a good chunk before it starts recording. Another potential issue is that the Galaxy […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 2 weeks ago
Samsung helped Wear OS offer standalone smartwatches for kids

Samsung helped Wear OS offer standalone smartwatches for kids

Last week, Google and Samsung unveiled Galaxy Watch for Kids, a system that brings standalone Wear OS-based smartwatches for kids. Google has now explained how Samsung helped it optimize Wear OS for kids and how it can be used to make standalone watches that don't need a phone. Galaxy Watch for Kids helped Wear OS […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 3 weeks ago
Don’t sleep on the Galaxy Watch as an alarm clock

Don’t sleep on the Galaxy Watch as an alarm clock

Most smartphone owners likely use their handsets as an alarm clock on most or all days of the week. You might know that smartwatches also have an alarm clock feature, but how many of you tried it? I have, and I'm not sure I'll be using the smartphone to wake me up every day anymore. […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 1 month ago
Change your futuristic Galaxy Watch into an analog timepiece

Change your futuristic Galaxy Watch into an analog timepiece

Samsung designed One UI Watch to accommodate both analog and digital watch fans. The OS offers a variety of watch faces, and thanks to the tiles-centric UI design, you won't miss out on health and fitness information regardless of which watch face you use. If you enjoy the analog look and prefer classic-style watch faces […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 1 month ago