Starting in August, Google will impose new rules for apps dedicated to connected watches under Wear OS 3. The idea? Enhance the experience through improved software requirements.
Google wants tweaked apps for Wear OS 3, starting August 31. To do this, the firm will impose a total of 31 additional criteria on the applications and Watch Faces that it offers in its Google Play market. As 9to5Google reports, these criteria will be added to the eight required specifications so far. This screw tightening is intended to force applications to respect “Essential design and interaction modes to deliver a consistent, intuitive, and enjoyable user experience on Wear OS.says Google.
The new signature requirements will refer mainly to browsing, with the obligation to authorize the user to “swipe down to close open window from almost any screen“, explains the firm. However, certain applications, such as fitness services or maps, will be exempt, we read. In detail, and as shown in the image below, any scrolling content must also support the spinning crown and display a scroll bar. Ongoing activities will show an indicator at the bottom of the dial, but also on the app launcher and on tiles.
Google wants more user-friendly apps in Wear OS 3
Google also wants to preserve ongoing processes when an app is no longer in use in the foreground or when it’s simply retired. The same thing happens when an app is restarted from the carousel, a few minutes after it was last used. In this context, Google requires developers to allow the user to continue where they left off.
Source: Google via 9to5Google
On a visual level this time, developers will also have to “clearly display the time of day at the top of the app home screen and any current activity screen»…just to remind everyone that we are on call. Google also wants to enforce the use of a black background in all apps and tiles, and all apps will now have to use home screens.
Google is also planning improvements related to accessibility. For example, applications will be required to use a minimum font size of 12sp for essential text and 10sp for non-essential text. They will also be required toconform to the font size set by the user in system settings».
Also performances, Google sévit: les applications devront cibler Android 11 (API level 30), on which Wear OS 3 is based, so that new requirements related to the stability of applications and aux inscriptions on the Play Store between également en vigueur end August. Finally, please note that all the specific details of these new rules are bundled together on this page.
Do you want to join a community of enthusiasts? Our Discord welcomes you, it is a place of mutual help and passion for technology.