Gemini Is Finally Rolling out to Wear OS Smartwatches

At The Android Show: I/O Edition in May, Google announced that its AI-powered assistant, Gemini, is coming to more platforms. As expected, Google has now started to roll out Gemini for Wear OS. Gemini is finally replacing Google Assistant on smartwatches based on the Wear OS platform.

Thanks to the upgrade, “Your watch can now handle complex tasks that once required multiple steps on your phone,” Google said in a blog post. Similar to phones, Gemini can work across your apps on your Wear OS-based smartwatches, too.

Gemini is rolling out to all Wear OS 4+ smartwatches

Starting now, Google has started rolling out Gemini to Wear OS smartwatches. These include those from Google itself and brands like Samsung, OPPO, OnePlus, and Xiaomi. Notably, Samsung’s newly introduced Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic are the first smartwatches to provide Gemini out of the box. All Samsung smartwatches with Wear OS will replace Google Assistant with Gemini in the future. All models, from the Galaxy Watch 4 series to the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra, will get it.

Google said that all wearables based on Wear OS 4 or higher will offer new AI functionalities. The search titan will provide the update to all smartwatches running these platforms over the coming weeks in a gradual manner. Additionally, the company said that watches upgrading to Wear OS 6 will also include support for your watchmaker’s in-house apps.

Here’s how you can use Gemini on your smartwatches

Once your Wear OS smartwatch gets the Gemini AI assistant, you can trigger it by pressing and holding the side button of your watch. You’ll also be able to tap on the Gemini app icon on your wearable’s screen and say the “Hey, Gemini” hotword to ask any queries.

Gemini for Wear OS smartwatches works the same as it does in existing Gemini interfaces. You can get answers to complicated queries, take actions within apps, and more with Gemini. You can even get summaries of info with your applications, like emails and texts. In comparison to Google Assistant, Gemini offers a more natural and conversational interaction.

It’s worth mentioning that rumors indicate that Google is developing a raise-to-talk feature for Wear OS smartwatches. It could let you simply lift your wearable to ask a query to your digital assistant. Unfortunately, the company’s official blog post doesn’t mention anything about this feature. Given how useful this functionality can be, Google could include it in its roadmap for Wear OS features this year.