Google introduced swipeable Tiles for Wear OS back in 2019, and swiping left on the Wear OS clock faces would take the users to “Tiles.” It provided information to the users on weather, news headlines, and much more, on a quick access interface. However, previously only first-party Google apps were allowed to offer these Tiles as a quick access interface. On the other hand, there was also the issue of limitation. It is all going to change as now the tech-giant is letting other third-party developers custom-create Wear OS Tiles.
Google announced the launch of the Jetpack Tiles library which will allow third-party developers to create the Wear OS Tiles; additionally, Google mentioned that the Jetpack Tiles library is in alpha.
Third-party developers can start creating Tiles now, and end-users will be able to access those Tiles sometime this spring after a “corresponding Wear OS platform update” which will be similar to the H MR2 release.
Tiles have a variety of uses, for example, they can be used to track a user’s daily activity progress, their quick workout, restarting a recently played song, or simply sending a message to a favorite contact. What makes Tiles different from apps is that the former is fast-loading and it focuses solely on the user’s immediate needs. Moreover, Tiles can be tapped to open a related app on the watch or phone for a deeper experience.
It has been years since Google Wear OS received a new version, but the company has been rolling out small updates for it. After the acquisition of Fitbit, the experts predicted that it could bring an end to Google’s Wear OS, but that has not been the case. The update that is to come this spring will give users access to any third-party Tiles that get developed for the OS.
