What you need to know
- Wear OS 3 has begun rolling out to Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches.
- The update brings a host of improvements and upgrades to Fossil's Gen 6 lineup in regards to its health and wellness along with UI touch ups.
- Check your watches system update section for the update but also know that it will factory reset it, removing your data, and preventing rollback.
Wear OS 3 for Fossil's Gen 6 smartwatch lineup is beginning its rollout.
As pointed out by some users on Reddit, Wear OS 3 has begun its rollout for Fossil's Gen 6 watch lineup. This new update offers a host of improvements and features, which Fossil has detailed in a separate Reddit post about the update.
Mixed in with the update are some noteworthy upgrades that come via its health and wellness tracking alongside a new user interface similar to the Pixel Watch and some stability enhancements.
While this update to Fossil's Gen 6 lineup is one we knew was coming soon, the company did mention it will miss out on Google Assistant. While it's not much of a surprise, it does seem as though it has something to do with the software not quite being ready to work well with Qualcomm-powered wearables. We also reached out to a Google spokesperson about this omission only to learn that they are more focused on delivering a "high-performing platform" without much on when these Gen 6 smartwatches may see its inclusion.
The post also mentions that the Wear OS 3 update for Gen 6 Fossil watches will also miss out on Google Fit. It seems this is due to the app not being updated to support the latest Wear OS health services. Fossil notes that while Fit is still available as an app, the company is using its smartwatch companion app for phones in order to sync health information from the watch to Fit. And for iOS users, the watches will still support iPhones, but Google Wallet will not be accessible, at least not yet. Google Maps support for iOS also appears to be a bit wonky, but possible.
At the moment, a couple of our in-house smartwatches, such as the Fossil Gen 6 and the Skagen Falster Gen 6, have not yet received the Wear OS 3 update (although Fossil says it will take a bit longer to arrive for Skagen watches). Today is the day for the update to release, so continue to manually check for the update inside the watch's software update section.
Additionally, this new update will factory reset your device upon downloading and installing. This will remove all of your current data from the watch and prevent you from rolling back to the previous Wear OS edition. Setting it up will now be done with the Fossil Smartwatch app, a reworked version of Fossil's hybrid smartwatch app.
Of course, for those of you that don't have a Gen 6 smartwatch, you can always check out the new Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition, which also launches today.
If you're in the market for a new smartwatch, the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition comes with a sleek design and a focus on health and wellness. It's capable of automatically tracking workouts and runs the latest Wear OS 3 software, so you'll have the latest experience from Google.
