Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches gain Google Assistant support via new Wear OS 3 update

The Fossil Group began updating its Gen 6 smartwatches to Wear OS 3 in October 2022, a few months after the OS upgrade debuted in the Galaxy Watch 5 series. While Samsung overlays One UI atop Wear OS, Fossil gave its Gen 6 smartwatches a Pixel Watch-style interface, consistent with Google's refreshed Home, Maps and Weather apps. Unfortunately, Wear OS fragmentation remains, with the new Google Assistant unavailable on Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches.

Officially, Google Assistant did not support the Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform, keeping it a Galaxy Watch5 series and Pixel Watch exclusive. Instead, Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches made do with Amazon Alexa, the functionality of which Amazon recently cut back. The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 and Montblanc Summit 3 also lacked Google Assistant support though, despite launching with Wear OS 3. Incidentally, the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 utilises a newer Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chipset too.

Seemingly, Google has worked through the issues that it had enabling Google Assistant on Snapdragon chipsets. Although Google has not commented on the matter, the Fossil Group has started rolling out a new update to Gen 6 smartwatches that enables Google Assistant. Gen 6 owners do not need to download any additional apps either; Google Assistant will start automatically by pressing the top button on the side of their smartwatch for a few seconds. However, you must activate the digital assistant in Fossil's smartphone companion app. Presumably, other smartwatches like the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 will receive Google Assistant support soon, as will the Montblanc Summit 3.

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