Google has ruined WearOS

A while back, Google decided that, for the betterment of the WearOS community, they would use the Watch Face Format, a descriptive language definition of a watch face that was only capable of the things that the Watch Face Format supports. Initially, they said that watches which shipped with WearOS 5 or greater would require Watch Face Format; not great, but a problem for the future, and perhaps more time for Watch Face Format to maybe get updated to something more useful than the features a $50 feature watch (vs smart watch) would support.

Then, apparently, Google changed its mind. Starting in January 2026, the Watch Face Format will be required for watch faces to be installed on all Wear OS devices.

This means that Watchmaker can no longer send its own watch faces to Wear OS devices, thus completely breaking all functionality within the watchface. Not only are a bunch of UI and graphical options gone, but Tasker integration and LUA scripting are impossible. If you want to see what the watch face above is supposed to look like, look at my previous post about watches.

Okay, so Google says battery life is greatly improved with Watch Face Format, so most people who don't care about fancy watch faces have a better experience, right? Except the battery life is as bad, or worse. However, to be fair, it's hard to directly compare as my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 also updated from OneUI 6 to OneUI 8, and the battery life could simply be worse now. Since the update, I've only gotten 18 hours on a charge (100% to 25%), whereas in the very recent past, I would easily get a full day.

I loved my Wear OS watches; I've worn one for well over 10 years. This one will be my last. If I'm going to have a feature watch, I'll just buy one for a third of the price of a smart watch and have a week of battery instead of barely a day. You screwed it up, Google, god knows why.