As more Wear OS devices hit the market, Google’s efforts to improve the overall experience on Android devices have been revealed in the most recent APK teardown of its Play Services app.
According to an app teardown performed by XDA-Developers, new strings in the Google Play Services beta version 22.32.12 build revealed that the company is planning to add support for backing up smartwatch data when switching to a new device.
One of the strings was called ‘companion backup opt in title,’ and it included the following prompts: ‘Back up your device with Google One/ Backup by Google One/ Choose backup account.’
Users must currently factory reset their Wear OS smartwatch when switching to a new Android smartphone. Including a backup option would greatly improve the user experience.
The mention of Google One, a paid Google subscription, is intriguing. The Google One app contains settings and management for Google’s device data backups for Android and iOS, though a Google One subscription is not required to use the feature.
According to the report, Google One subscribers pay for extra storage on their Google Account, so Google would not put a feature like this behind a paywall.
Google has reportedly begun rolling out updates to its Camera apps on both Android and Wear OS. The Google Camera app for Pixel devices receives minor updates, but the Wear OS app, which serves as a remote control for Pixel owners, receives major updates and a complete redesign from the previous version. The Wear OS camera app has been in need of an update for quite some time. In the coming months, Google is also expected to release its new Pixel Watch, which will run the latest Wear OS.
