These watches are upgrading to a recent version of Wear OS, but not the one you think

Fossil has updated its Gen 6 connected watch as well as derivative models, under the Diesel or Skagen brand. However, the manufacturer is still more than a year behind on updates.

If Google and Samsung have now launched into the market of connected watches under Wear OS, certain pioneering brands of the Google system, such as Mobvoi and Fossil, are having more difficulty keeping up.

It must be said that the transition from Wear OS 2 to Wear OS 3, then to Wear OS 3.5 and Wear OS 4, put these manufacturers on the sidelines, forcing them to develop their own mobile application – they can no longer rely on Google’s centralized Wear OS application, used until now.

Finally, Fossil took the plunge as spotted by the site 9to5Google. The manufacturer has updated its Fossil Gen 6 watch to Wear OS 3.5, just like the models derived from it. This is particularly the case of the Skagen Falster Gen 6 or the Diesel Griffed Gen 6.

These watches had already been updated to Wear OS 3 at the end of last year. From now on, they are taking a step forward by moving to version 3.5 of the operating system.

An update a year late

While this update may seem like good news, it nevertheless marks Fossil’s delay in updating its connected watches. Indeed, Wear OS 3.5 was presented more than a year ago, in summer 2022. It is the operating system that equipped the first Pixel Watch or the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro when they were launched . Meanwhile, Google this year launched Wear OS 4, an overhaul of the operating system that emphasizes battery life and power management. Concretely, even if Fossil continues to update its watches – and it is for the best – the manufacturer is still more than a year behind Google and Samsung.

Above all, the deployment of Wear OS 3.5 was not done without a hitch as reported 9to5Google. Several users report on Reddit having encountered battery problems, the watch turning on again and again or particularly long installation times. However, the manufacturer seems to be aware of these problems: “We advise you that our engineering team recognizes the issue and is working on a fix”.