Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Google Play Store will now show warnings on Wear OS watch face listings that may drain battery life.
- Watch faces with heavy animations, dynamic data, or constant phone interaction are the likely culprits.
- The update is rolling out, but we haven’t spotted it yet on our Galaxy Watch 8.
Google is adding a small but handy feature to the Play Store on Wear OS watches. With the latest Play Store version 47.7 update, users will now see warning messages on the detail pages of watch face apps that could negatively impact battery life.
Not all watch faces are created equal. Some are lightweight and efficient, while others, especially those with complex animations, live data, or heavy phone interactions, can seriously hog the battery life of your smartwatch. Until now, most users had no easy way to know which was which, often leading to short battery life after installing a flashy new watch face.
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The new Play Store warnings aim to solve that by flagging watch faces that might demand more power. This should help users make smarter choices and avoid watch faces that drain their battery unnecessarily.
We checked for the Play Store update on our Galaxy Watch 8 running Wear OS 6, but haven’t received it yet. Still, it’s a welcome addition that could save many users from trial-and-error frustration when picking their next watch face.
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