Spotify for Android watches could have been fairly called a mess. It did next to none of the things expected of a music streamer on a wearable screen. They included the simple ability to play, pause and skip through tracks from a wearer’s wrist. This led to the popularity of 3rd-party apps for Spotify control. However, the native app’s interface has just been upgraded to include these functions from now on.
The new app is more capable as it is now compatible with Wear OS and not its older iteration, Android Wear. It also now brings Spotify Connect to the smartwatch. This means that users can now control speakers or TVs connected to their wearable to run through their Spotify playlists. The Wear OS upgrade can interact with these devices, as well as phones, over WiFi, Bluetooth or LTE (presuming a watch has one or all of the necessary antennas).
The updated Spotify for Wear OS will also be pre-installed in all newly-shipped units of Fossil- and Michael Kors-branded smartwatches. This is the result of a new partnership between the app’s developers and the two fashion companies, and will take effect from November 2018.