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Launched in form of a standalone app, the WhatsApp application will allow OS smartwatch owners to engage in text conversations, make calls and even use emojis
Meta, the parent company to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has just launched a standalone WhatsApp application on the Google Wear OS Smartwatches, allowing users to engage in text conversations, make calls and even use emojis.
Announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the WhatsApp for OS Smartwatches is compatible with all smartwatches running the latest version of Google’s operating system for wearables, namely the Wear OS 3.
According to details, this new Wear OS WhatsApp will give smartwatch owners the ability to start conversations, reply to messages and even make calls without being connected to their mobile devices.
First revealed by Google at the Google I/O conference held in Mountain View, California, the WhatsApp app for Wear OS has been under development for a long time.
While presenting at the conference, Google revealed a bunch of other standalone applications planned to be released on the Wear OS; examples include Spotify and Peloton.
Getting a standalone application for WhatsApp gives the Google OS Watch a competitive edge over its biggest and most dominant competitor, the Apple Watch, which only allows its users to respond and view WhatsApp texts from the notification bar and does not have an to make WhatsApp calls as well.
As Google continues to launch standalone applications for its OS watch, it will possibly grow both its functionality and market size. Strongly supported by Samsung and several other hardware OEMs, the OS Watch was reported to have over 21% of the US smartwatch market share in 2022.
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