Google has stepped up its bid to make Put on OS smartwatches feel and appear as premium because the Apple Watch by introducing some main new design tips for apps working on its watch platform.

Google says the brand new tips (opens in new tab), which all Put on OS builders might want to comply with from August 31, have been launched to “enhance the standard of apps for Put on OS and their presentation within the Google Play Retailer”.

That is an admission that some Put on OS apps at the moment lack the visible polish and consistency of their equivalents on Apple’s watchOS – and Google is mandating three predominant modifications to convey its smartwatch expertise up a notch.

Firstly, all Put on OS apps and Tiles (which offer glanceable data) should use a black background, with all different colours banned. This might convey a few advantages. A black background can mix into the bezels of a watch just like the Google Pixel Watch, making them rather less apparent. 

There’s additionally an opportunity that black backgrounds in apps might assist enhance a watch’s battery life and in addition enhance their readability. This is the reason Apple additionally recommends that builders use black backgrounds in watchOS apps.

Like on the Apple Watch, Google can even be mandating that every one Put on OS apps present the time of day in the identical place on the high of each app’s residence display screen and any exercise screens. It is a minor tweak, however one that may once more convey some consistency to the general smartwatch expertise.

Lastly, Google’s new tips ought to make it a bit simpler to see when you have got an ongoing exercise, like a exercise, working on a third-party app. App builders will now have to indicate an icon on the watch face when an exercise is working, and in addition present this within the app’s Tile (if the app is in your Tile carousel).

Whereas these modifications aren’t collectively as huge as a software program replace just like the rumored Put on OS 4 (which can not land till 2024), they do present that Google is eager to convey some added polish to its smartwatch platform – with most of the tweaks impressed by Apple’s learnings on the extra mature watchOS.

Evaluation: Put on OS will get some much-needed consistency

Google’s Put on OS has made huge strides previously couple of years, most notably when it merged with Samsung’s Tizen final yr in Put on OS 3 – and these new design tips proceed to indicate its dedication to making a constant smartwatch expertise.

All three of these app design guidelines have echoes of Apple’s watchOS, with the mandated black backgrounds probably having the most important affect on the visible polish of Put on OS smartwatches (and hopefully their battery lives, too).

On paper, they do not sound like dramatic modifications, however Google says the updates “span visible expertise, performance, efficiency, and Google Play listings” to assist in giving Put on OS followers a “constant, intuitive and gratifying expertise”.

It is that larger consistency that might profit the perfect Put on OS watches of their battle with the perfect Apple Watches, significantly as new gamers are seemingly coming into the sport – with current rumors suggesting that Xiaomi may very well be launching a Put on OS watch later this yr.