Google's operating system designed for wearable devices is getting a new name.
Google is getting rid of the word "Android" in the operating system's moniker and will be calling it Wear OS from now on. The new name will be rolling out to watch and phone apps "over the next few weeks."
In a blog post, Wear OS Product Management Director Dennis Troper suggested that Google is making this change to avoid alienating iPhone users with the word Android.
"Android Wear was founded on the belief that wearable technology should be for everyone, no matter what style you wear on your wrist or what phone you have in your pocket," Troper wrote. "In 2017, one out of three new Android Wear watch owners also used an iPhone. So …we're announcing a new name that better reflects our technology, vision, and most important of all—the people who wear our watches. We're now Wear OS by Google, a wearables operating system for everyone."
Many top watch and electronics brands have utilized the operating system for their smartwatches, from Asus, Casio, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Gc, Guess, and Huawei to Hugo Boss, LG, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Montblanc, Movado, Polar, TAG Heuer, Tommy Hilfiger, and ZTE. Currently, there are more than 50 watches on the market running the newly-coined Wear OS. Several of those models—including the Huawei Watch 2, Asus ZenWatch 3, and LG Watch Style—are among the top-rated smartwatches we here at PCMag have tested.
"We're just scratching the surface of what's possible with wearables and there's even more exciting work ahead," Troper wrote.