This summer’s Samsung Unpacked event was pretty straightforward—the company revealed its newfoldable phones, showed off theGalaxy Watch 6, and discussed anexpensive tablet. But one announcement almost went overlooked.
Before wrapping up its segment on the Galaxy Watch 6, Samsung confirmed that the Audible app is coming to Wear OS. This app will allow you to stream audiobooks and podcasts from your wrist, which may come in handy while exercising or doing chores around the house (especially if you own an LTE smartwatch).
We don’t know any concrete details about the Audible Wear OS app. That said, it will probably be similar to the Audible app on Apple Watch, which has a clean interface and allows you to download content for offline playback.
Also, Samsung didn’t say which versions of Wear OS will support the Audible app. We can safely assume that Wear OS 3 supports Audible, but smartwatches running older versions of Wear OS may be out of luck. (The most notable Wear OS 3 watches are the Pixel Watch, the Fossil Gen 6, and the Galaxy Watch 4 through 6. Very few Android smartwatches run this version of Wear OS.)
But Samsung did take a moment to celebrate the launch of WhatsApp on Wear OS. And it mentioned that an improved Gmail is coming to the wearable platform, though this was previously revealed by Google during theI/O 2023keynote.
Related:Why Is Audible So Expensive?
Getting excited about these basic apps may seem a bit silly (especially if you’re a pampered Apple Watch user). But it’s good to see that the Wear OS platform is gaining some momentum. Wear OS was neglected for several years, to the point that Android smartwatches were almost useless. Google and Samsung are now working together to play catch-up with Apple, and it’s going surprisingly well.
A launch date for the Audible Wear OS app is unknown—it’s “coming soon,” according to Samsung. Thankfully theGalaxy Watch 6is already available for pre-order, and it’ll start shipping on August 11th. While the new Galaxy Watch is just an iterative upgrade, I suggest looking into it if you’re interested in smartwatches.
