Google updates Android Wear with watch faces available on Google Play, launches Watch Face API

Google today updated Android Wear with a slew of improvements, the most notable of which is the ability to download watch faces from a new section on the Google Play store. At the same time, the company is opening up its Watch Face API so developers can design and release their own watch faces for Android Wear devices. The updates are rolling out “over the next week,” Google says, so don’t worry if you don’t see them yet.

Google says there are now “dozens of new watch faces” (including a Minions one!), all powered by the same Watch Face API that developers can now use. Downloading them from Google Play works just like downloading apps, but Google has also launched a new Android Wear companion app to make browsing, downloading, and switching watch faces easier.

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The company explains watch faces have been the most requested feature not just from users, who get another way to express their personal style, but from developers too, since they get the opportunity to customize the most prominent UI feature of the devices. Thanks to the new Watch Face API, Google is expecting a flood of watch faces “in the weeks and months ahead.”

Developers can learn more on the Designing Watch Faces page, take the Creating Watch Faces training class, and view the Watch Faces for Android Wear DevByte video (embedded below). There’s also the WatchFace Sample available both online and in the samples manager for the recently released Android Studio.

Watch faces aren’t just images: They are services run from a wearable app, meaning developers can provide multiple watch faces with a single app install. They can also provide configuration options on a phone or watch, like letting a user change between 12-hour and 24-hour time, analog and digital, or something that hasn’t been done before. Developers can leverage OpenGL to provide smooth graphics, as well as a background service to pull in useful data like weather and calendar events.

The latest release of Android Wear is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop and API level 21. It will roll out to all users via an over-the-air (OTA) update. Any smartphone or tablet running Android 4.3 or later will continue to work with all Android Wear devices.

Google is encouraging developers who have built a watch face for Android Wear using unofficial means to migrate their apps to the official API, which is a requirement for being featured within the Watch Faces collection on Google Play. This will ensure a consistent user experience across the platform and will give developers more to work with, such as letting them know when the watch enters ambient mode or allowing them to adjust the position of system UI elements.

Furthermore, Google is asking that developers wait to update their apps on Google Play until after the Android Wear 5.0 API 21 OTA rollout is complete, since a watch face requiring API 21 will not be visible on a watch running API 20. Existing watch faces need to transition to the new API by January 31 — on that day, watch faces that don’t use the official API will stop working.

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Watch faces aside, other changes in this Android Wear update include easier navigation, new modes, and app improvements. Here’s the changelog:

• Quickly bring a card back if you’ve accidentally dismissed it
• When you tap on the watch face, recently used actions now appear at the top of the list
• Quickly access various settings by swiping down from the top of the screen
• Theater Mode lets you keep the screen off and mute vibrations when you’re in a dark room
• Sunlight Mode temporarily boosts the screen to maximum brightness
• Easily block notifications from any app, directly from your watch
• View your apps’ usage of battery and storage (in the Android Wear app)

Google continues to market Android Wear much like Android — as the platform that gives both developers and users more control. In the company’s own words:

Deciding what to wear is a really personal thing — it’s one of the ways you show people what you’re about. Wearable technology is no different, so Android Wear offers a wide selection of apps and watches to suit your taste. It’s about expressing who you are, however you want, right on your wrist.

There are currently six Android Wear watches on the market: the ASUS ZenWatch, the LG G Watch, the LG G Watch R, the Moto 360, the Samsung Gear Live, and the Sony SmartWatch 3. While they all differ from each other in form and function and have different bands and accessories, they’re all about to get even more features and more options, thanks to today’s announcement. That’s exactly what Google wants: an ecosystem of customizability.