GoKawiilGoogle's Wear OS 7 has arrived, and it's now rolling out to eligible Pixel Watch devices. Notable updates include battery improvements, new Live Updates and a handful of Gemini-powered features scheduled to arrive later this year. But the most interesting part about Wear OS 7 has nothing to do with features and everything to do with the broader AI strategy that Google is building around devices that measure data from your body.
Wear OS 7 got no more than a passing mention at Google I/O last month; it was framed more as an entry point into an AI system of interconnected devices than a standalone device. The company highlighted upcoming intelligent eyewear and described how people could review photos captured on smart glasses directly from their wrist. New cross-device controls similarly position the watch as a hub for managing audio across headphones, speakers and other connected devices.
Smartwatches have also become the gateway to Google's new Fitbit app (a rebranded Health Hub), which centers on an AI health coach/concierge (with a $10 per month Premium subscription) that can offer personalized training recommendations and surface broader health trends.
Google's new Fitbit Air is a screen-less fitness tracker with a built-in coach. Google/Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNET
What's coming to your Wear OS device?
Wear OS 7 updates, as described in Google's announcement, are relatively modest compared to the company's broader AI initiatives. The update brings battery life improvements of up to 10% over Wear OS 6, refreshed Live Updates notifications for real-time information, a standardized workout-tracking experience for fitness apps and improved cross-device controls that let users manage playback and switch audio outputs between connected headphones, speakers and other devices directly from the watch.
Google is also laying the groundwork for deeper Gemini integration. Later this year, select Wear OS 7 devices will receive Gemini Intelligence features, including "Create My Widget," which generates custom watch dashboards from natural-language prompts, and new AppFunctions APIs that allow Gemini to perform multi-step actions across apps.
That shift signals where Google sees hardware heading overall, with wearables taking a supporting role in Google's main AI story. Phones, watches, glasses and earbuds are starting to feel secondary to the AI layer sitting on top of them. Hardware will still be important, but mostly because it gives Gemini more context, more sensors and more access to your life (and body). Google's new AI health coach can now analyze biometric trends and even medical records to generate personalized recommendations. Google is also expanding Gemini's access to personal information across its ecosystem through a new Personal Intelligence layer that can reference data from services like Gmail, Search and chat history to provide contextual recommendations.
Google isn't alone in this broader industry trend. Apple is leaning on Google's Gemini to power a revamped Siri, while also expanding its Apple Intelligence to WatchOS on the Apple Watch. Companies such as Whoop and Oura are building similar AI-driven coaching systems. Across the industry, hardware is increasingly presented as a delivery mechanism for AI services rather than the main product itself.
The Google Pixel Watch 4 will get the new features. Celso Bulgatti/CNET
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