Wear OS 5 boosts battery life, Developer Preview available now

Google is launching the first preview of Wear OS 5, which is set to significantly improve battery life for smartwatches.

While there are certainly outliers, like the Galaxy Watch 6 series and TicWatch Pro 5, Wear OS smartwatches are not particularly known for their long-lasting batteries. Google’s own Pixel Watch 2 manages about 24 hours of wear before needing to be recharged, while many Apple Watch owners get a day and a half (or more) on a single charge. Compare that to the Fitbit Sense 2, which manages to go nearly a week without a full recharge.

Year over year, Google and its partners, including Samsung, have continued to drive down the battery usage of Wear OS, and this year’s launch is no different. Today, Google took the wraps off of Wear OS 5, the primary focus of which is improved battery life. As a prime example, Google says that “running a marathon consumes up to 20% less power on Wear OS 5.”

Relatedly, Google is also pushing developers to build apps and watch faces that are innately more power-efficient. On the watch faces front, Wear OS 5 will include a newer version of the Watch Face Format that arrived with Wear OS 4. The format is designed to let Wear OS itself optimize the performance of the watch face so developers can focus on design. The new version of the Watch Face Format enables easy access to weather information and adds new styles of complications.