Do More with your Android Wear with Interactive Watch Faces
Google will soon add interactive watch faces to Android Wear, making them even more customizable, Google said Thursday. The new watch faces offer a new way to interact with information from a service without actually launching its app. A watch face may show a calendar widget, for example, and tapping on the widget could bring up your schedule for the day.
The feature won’t be available until the next Android Wear update rolls out in the next few weeks but Google highlighted a few from the developers it worked with on the feature early on.
The Bits face, for example, allows you to choose the type of widgets that appear on the face with additional information shown when you tap into a particular item like weather or your calendar.
UnderArmour’s watch face is fitness-focused with stats around your daily steps, calorie burn and distance.
Particularly intriguing is one called Together that allows two people who have the app installed and their phones paired to communicate with each other throughout the day by sharing emoji, doodles, photos, and other info about their daily activities.
Google Play lists 21 interactive watch faces that will be available once the Android Wear update rolls out, but it’s likely more developers will take advantage of the functionality soon. Google also announced Thursday it’s making an API available for other developers who want to use the feature.