Older Wear OS devices will soon lose Google Assistant support
The voice assistant will only work on smartwatches running Wear OS 3 and later.
Google will stop supporting Assistant on smartwatches running Wear OS 2 in the near future. “Google Assistant support on this watch is ending soon," reads a message in the latest version of the Wear OS companion app, as spotted by 9to5 Google. "Please upgrade to a newer watch that supports Google Assistant and runs Wear OS 3 or later.”
The companion app is only needed for devices that use Wear OS 2 or earlier versions of the operating system. There's a dedicated Assistant app for Wear OS 3 devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Fossil smartwatches and, of course, the Pixel Watch.
This move will impact many older watches dating back to 2020 and earlier, including models from Tag Heuer, Mobvoi, Motorola, Oppo, Xiaomi, Misfit, Casio and LG. Wikipedia has a helpful list of Wear OS devices and the latest version of the operating system that they support. However, since it's Wikipedia, it's worth double checking elsewhere to confirm whether your watch can, in fact, run Wear OS 3.
It's not clear when Google plans to end Assistant support on these older watches. If you rely on Assistant on a Wear OS 2 device, though, you might want to upgrade soon. As it happens, Google is expected to unveil its second Pixel Watch within the next couple of months. The company typically holds a major hardware event every October.
