Android Wear update to Lollipop coming this week, adds official watch face API and new features

One of the most oft-requested features for Android Wear — other than Android 5.0 — is support for third-party watch faces. Luckily for Wear users, both of those requests are being met.

On December 10, Google officially announced the newest update to Android Wear that will bring the software up to Android 5.0 Lollipop and introduce a series of new features to the wearable devices. As previously reported on December 9, the update to Lollipop for Android Wear is a big one, especially for those who have been waiting for an official watch face API. With the newest update, developers will be able to easily create custom watch faces for Android Wear easily and then submit them for distribution through the Google Play store. Watch faces will be able to be downloaded to your wearable just like apps. You’ll be able to find them in a dedicated Android Wear section.

Google says that there are a ton of examples to try, including watch faces with the Minions from the Despicable Me films, Plants vs. Zombies, Red Bull, Pac-Man, Porsche, and more. You can see the watch face lineup through this link here.

More than that, though, Google is also implementing another update for the Android Wear app, with the main focus of getting those third-party custom watch faces on your wearable quickly and easily. Other improvements to the app include the ability to recall a dismissed card, a new mode that will allow users to swipe down from the top of the display to change some specific settings, and a “Theater Mode” that will allow users to turn off the screen and mute vibrations.

As is par for the course with this type of update, it will be sent out over the air and be rolled out in stages over the next week. The last update to the Android Wear app was sent out on December 5 and allowed users to disable card previews and more.

source: androidandme