​YouTube Music is coming to some older Wear OS watches – but there’s a catch

Finally some good news for owners of some current Wear OS smartwatches.

Google has confirmed that it will launch its YouTube Music app for older Wear 2.x devices.

To recap, Google’s focus is now on Wear 3.0, which has launched on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, and announced for select devices including Fossil Gen 6, TicWatch Pro 3 and E3. However, the update won’t roll back onto any other existing Wear OS devices.

As part of Wear 3.0, Google is revamping the apps and services – and that includes its music offering. But YouTube Music was not included in a blog post on services that would move to Wear 2.0 – leading to speculation that it wouldn’t be supported.

But two months on, Google has confirmed it will – sort of. There’s a catch.

Google has confirmed YouTube Music will roll out to those devices that will receive Wear 3.0 – namely, the Fossil Gen 6, TicWatch Pro 3 and E3.

That’s good for those users – but not so great for the rest of the Wear OS army.

Google has indicated that some other existing Wear OS smartwatches will get access to the app – but didn’t reveal which or when.

In effect, Wear OS is now a two-tier platform. Legacy devices are being left with finite support and a no access to some of the best apps. And all the focus is on newer devices, and those running Snapdragon 4100 that will eventually get upgraded to Wear 3.0 some time in 2022.

Of course, Spotify has launched its upgraded app with offline syncing for all Wear OS users – so anyone with a Wear smartwatch can just use that instead.