Quite a few of Google’s Wear OS apps already offer Tiles, with more from Messages and Wallet maybe on the way if a Play Store collection is to be believed.
Google Play’s “Apps with Tiles” collection is not new. On the first-party front, the latest iteration includes Maps, Calendar, and YouTube Music alongside Spotify, WhatsApp, and Todoist.
However, you also have Google Wallet and Google Messages. It’s of course possible this is just an editorial oversight.
That said, the possible Tiles both could offer are pretty straightforward. WhatsApp has Tiles for contacts and voice messages to quickly jump into a conversation with a person or send an audio recording. A hypothetical Google Messages could do the same (though there would be some overlap with the Google Contacts Tile), or show recent messages similar to Gmail’s.
Google Wallet could show a few of your stored cards with one-tap access being quite convenient since the app needs to be open before NFC tap-to-pay activates. At the moment, you have to open Wallet from the app drawer, complication, or Quick Settings Tile. On the Pixel Watch, the latter requires scrolling all the way to the top.
The full list of Google apps with Tiles is: Gmail, Calendar, Keep, Contacts, Weather, Maps, Fitbit, Fit, YouTube Music, Clock, Assistant, and Personal Safety.
The other apps are Home, Phone, and Camera, while Gboard and Google Photos watch face do not count and everything else is a background service rather than having a user-facing component. After Messages and Wallet, it would be quite nice if Google Home gained a Tile letting you pin some smart devices.
More on Wear OS:
- Verizon is raising the price of smartwatch plans
- Google confirms Wear OS 5 and Android TV updates are coming, more at I/O
- Google Wallet on Wear OS asking for PIN before tap-to-pay is just a bug
- Wear OS-powered Google smartwatch shows up at FCC, but it’s likely not Pixel Watch 3
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