Your Wear OS smartwatch could soon get RCS texting

By Patrick Hearn Published October 2, 2024

The Google Pixel Watch 3 next to the Pixel Watch. — Pixel Watch 3 (left) and Pixel Watch Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Your Wear OS smartwatch brings a lot to the table. Fitness tracking, Google Pay, and so many other features live on your wrist, but the watch doesn’t have an independent connection from your phone. If you don’t have your phone nearby, you can’t respond to text messages. New code discovered in the most recent Google Messages app update suggests that could be about to change.

In an APK teardown, Android Authority’s Aamir Siddiqui found several lines of code that indicate Google is bringing standalone RCS to Wear OS smartwatches. The flags were found in the Google Messages v20240926 beta and point to not only on-device RCS messaging, but also voice messaging.

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If the change works as expected, compatible Wear OS smartwatches will be able to connect to RCS servers without needing a smartphone as a middleman. It’s not clear whether this feature will work on both Wi-Fi and LTE smartwatches, but there’s no reason to think it won’t. RCS only needs an active data connection, not a phone line.

A person wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra showing the Ultra Analogue watch face. — Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The ability to send and receive messages without your phone would be a major perk for smartwatch users. This feature is already available on some Apple Watches, but hasn’t made its way to Wear OS just yet. As a result, devices like the Google Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch will become that much more useful.

Unfortunately, while this finding hints at what might be on the way for Wear OS, it doesn’t provide a timeline. It is possible that this is simply test code that won’t make it into the final version. For now, keep your fingers crossed and your eyes peeled for more information.

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