As more and more Wear OS devices begin to enter the market, US tech giant Google’s efforts to improve the overall experience on Android devices have been revealed in the latest APK teardown of its Play Services app.
According to an app made by XDA-Developers, the beta version of the Google Play Services app contains new strings in build 22.32.12 revealed That the company is preparing to add support for backing up smartwatch data when switching to a new device.
One of the strings was titled: ‘companion_backup_opt_in_title’ indicating: ‘Back up your device with Google One/Backup by Google One/Choose a backup account’.
Currently, when switching a Wear OS smartwatch to a new Android smartphone, users need to factory reset the watch. Adding an option to back up the device will make it a much smoother experience.
Interestingly, there is mention of Google One, a paid Google subscription. The settings and management of Google’s device data backup for Android and iOS are found in the Google One app, although a Google One subscription is not required to use this feature.
Google One customers pay for additional storage on their Google Account, so according to the report, Google won’t be putting such a feature behind a paywall.
Recently, Google has also reportedly started rolling out updates for its camera apps on both Android and Wear OS. The Google Camera app for Pixel devices gets minor updates, but the Wear OS app, which basically acts like a remote control for Pixel owners, gets some major updates and a complete redesign from the previous version. The Camera app on Wear OS is due for an update for a while now. Google is also expected to launch its new Pixel Watch in the coming months, which will run on the latest Wear OS.
