US Update: Wear OS 7.1 is official, but a future version will copy this key Android phone feature

• Google has released a new version of its Wear OS emulator, based on Wear OS 7.1.
• The emulator also debuts a system status bar inside apps, akin to Android.
• Unfortunately, this feature won’t actually be available when Wear OS 7.1 actually lands on devices.

Google has brought a variety of features and improvements to Wear OS over the years, with some of these tweaks (like Material 3 Expressive aesthetics) bringing the platform more in line with Android. However, it looks like the company could bring another core Android feature to smartwatches.

Google has published the latest version of its Wear OS emulator, and it turns out this uses the Wear OS 7.1 software (h/t: 9to5Google). This hitherto-unannounced software is based on Android 17. The company says this emulator will also allow developers to try a system status bar in apps.

Continue reading at the original source →