Google today announced an update to its Android Wear platform that makes it possible to interact directly with watch faces. The revised watch face code lets watch faces change their design to reveal new information, such as notifications, or launch a specific app.
Google teamed up with a handful of developers, including Bit, Under Armour, and Together, which created the first set of interactive watch faces. Under Armour’s watch face, for example, will let users see their step count, calories burned, and distance moved.
The updated platform also includes Google Translate. Users can speak to their watch and see words translated into 44 different languages. Wearers can flip the smartwatch to show a friend, who responds in his or her own language. When the watch is flipped back toward the wearer, the response is translated back to the original language.
The Android Wear update is being pushed out to Android Wear devices over the next few weeks. At the same time, Google released the necessary API for developers to use to create the new, active watch screens. It will be up to developers to add interactive functions to their watch faces.
