Google has confirmed that Wear OS 6, based on Android 16, will launch later this year. The company says Wear OS 6 will be available on the Pixel Watch series and on new watches from partners in the “coming months.” The new smartwatch software brings a revised UI and up to 10% better battery life.

The big reveal, however (or as big as it can be before we get a proper look at I/O next week), was that Wear OS 6 will see the addition of Gemini features, even to wearables outside of Google's own offerings like the best Samsung watches.

Find out how Wear OS 6 with Material 3 Expressive transforms your Pixel Watch, when you'll receive the update.

While Material 3 Expressive is not coming to Wear OS 6 until later this year, Google is already updating Tiles with the new design language.

A teardown of the settings APK from thge One UI Watch 8 leak has shed light on an upcoming Wear OS 6 feature called Raise to Talk.