After years of stagnant updates, Google has finally refocused its efforts on wearables. A new platform for Wear OS is launching later this year in partnership with Samsung, and Google is bringing several of its apps to your wrist for the first time. YouTube Music is finally coming to Wear OS, though you’ll have to keep waiting for its official launch.

Once YouTube Music is made available for Wear OS, subscribers can take advantage of all the excellent features included in Google’s music streaming service. In addition to standard playback controls, smart downloads are specifically highlighted among the abilities coming to your wrist, allowing users to listen to music without a data connection. Unfortunately, there’s no specific date for when the app will actually go live for the Play Store; Google says it’s coming to Wear later this year.

A YouTube Music app for Wear has been a long time coming. Google shut down the Google Play Music app for watches back in August of last year, months before the actual service closed up shop. YouTube Music has also had an app available for the Apple Watch since September, all while Wear OS users were told to “stay tuned” for more information. Considering that the Apple Watch app lacks support for downloadable music, however, it might just be worth the wait.


More details

Updated with details surrounding YouTube Music’s offline playback and the app’s spotlight in yesterday’s “What’s new with Wear” session.