Google’s Wear OS 5 update is here with a new grid view for the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2

Though it was officially announced at Google I/O in May and shipped on its first device two months ago, Wear OS 5 has only been publicly available on a grand total of three smartwatch lines so far: The Galaxy Watch 6, Galaxy Watch Ultra, and the Pixel Watch 3. Samsung has a beta version available in the form of One UI 6 Watch for older models, but it’s yet to go stable.

Those poor adoption rates are finally improving today, as Google is bringing Wear OS 5 to the first-gen Pixel Watch and the Pixel Watch 2.

Google has announced that Wear OS 5 will start rolling out to older Pixel Watch models as of 4:00 p.m. ET today, September 24. The update will bring several of the new features first seen on the Pixel Watch 3 series to older models, including a grid-style app drawer first seen in late May.

The company says this update will be made available to Pixel Watch 1 and 2 users on Wear OS 3.5 or 4.0, which is basically anyone who’s updated their watch in the last year. The rollout won’t happen instantly, however — instead, Google will issue the update in phases over the course of the next week.

The new app drawer is a major design departure

Under the hood, this update includes the September 2024 security patches for smartwatches. Google hasn’t updated the Pixel Watch Security Bulletin page as of this writing, however, so it’s unclear which, if any, vulnerabilities have been patched.

One thing that will be immediately apparent upon updating is a new addition to the bottom of your app drawer — a pair of buttons in a new App view section let you easily switch between the list view with spelled out app names that you’re used to and a new grid UI that shows only app icons. The grid view resembles the app launcher in Apple’s watchOS, if you’re familiar, but aligns the icons in a more linear layout.

This update also brings the Pixel Watch 3’s improved Camera app controls to older watches, making it easy to switch between photo and video modes while adding access to Astro Mode for astrophotography. Google says “numerous bug fixes” and performance improvements are also included, as is the Pixel Watch 3’s updated Recorder app.

To see if this update is available, open the Settings app on your watch and head to System → System updates. Google says additional updates will continue to roll in after the firmware OTA via Play Store updates to your existing Wear OS apps, so you should also be on the lookout under Play Store → Manage apps → Update all.