Google Adds Swipeable Widgets Called 'Tiles' to Wear OS, Set to Arrive Next Month

Google introduced swipeable quick actions on Wear OS back in August last year, providing users a more convenient way to access notifications and other relevant information with a simple swipe gesture. Expanding on it, Google has now announced Tiles, a new take on the swipe-based information interface. Tiles are basically ‘at a glance' widgets that provide quick access to upcoming events, headlines, and weather forecast among other tools and features. Google has announced a total of six Tiles in Wear OS by Google that can be checked by swiping left on the home page of a Wear OS-powered smartwatch.

In an official blog post, Google revealed the name of all six Tiles, namely, Goals, Next event, Forecast, Heart rate, Headlines, and Timer. As for the functionality of these new swipeable widgets, the Next event Tile will bring up the upcoming event users have saved, while the Forecast Tile will show the weather data. The Headlines Tile, as the name suggests, will furnish news headlines, while the Heart rate Tile will reveal the user's heart rate data recorded by the onboard sensor on the Wear OS-powered smartwatch.

Swiping left and tapping on the Timer tile will let users set a timer, while the Goal tile can be used to check health and fitness statistics. In addition to providing quick access to six commonly used tools, users will have the convenience of adjusting the order in which the Tiles appear after swiping left on the home screen.

Tile order readjustment can be done by long-pressing and moving the tile on the smartwatch. One can also change their order on the phone via the Wear OS by Google app. Google has announced that more Tiles will be added to Wear OS by Google in the near future. As for the availability of the six aforementioned Tiles, Google says that they will arrive on Wear OS-powered smartwatches next month. However, some Tiles features might vary depending upon the region or the software version running on the connected phone.