Your Wear OS smartwatch offers a wide range of features, from fitness tracking to Google Pay. However, one limitation is that it requires a connection to your phone for certain functions, such as responding to text messages. Recent code discovered in the Google Messages app hints at a potential change to this setup.
In an APK teardown, Android Authority’s Aamir Siddiqui unearthed code suggesting that Google is working on bringing standalone RCS messaging to Wear OS smartwatches. This includes on-device RCS messaging and voice messaging capabilities.
If implemented, compatible Wear OS smartwatches could connect directly to RCS servers without relying on a smartphone. It’s unclear whether this feature will work on both Wi-Fi and LTE-enabled watches, but there’s no technical barrier to prevent it. RCS only requires an active data connection, not a phone line.
The ability to send and receive messages independently of a phone would be a significant advantage for Wear OS users. While this feature already exists on some Apple Watches, it has yet to be implemented on Wear OS devices. This development could make devices like the Google Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch even more appealing.
Although this discovery is promising, there is no timeline for when this feature might be rolled out. It’s possible that the code found is experimental and may not make it to the final version. Stay tuned for updates and hope for the best.
