New App Brings Pixel Now Playing Results to Wear OS Watches
Now On Wrist puts Pixel Now Playing song results on Wear OS watches through notifications, a complication and a tile, according to Android Authority.
The app does not turn a smartwatch into a music-recognition device. Instead, it relies on ambient music recognition happening on a paired phone, including Google’s Now Playing feature, and sends the identified song and artist to the wrist. The phone must be a Google Pixel or a phone with compatible ambient music recognition, so the app is not limited to the Pixel Watch.
Once a phone recognizes a new track, Now On Wrist can send a notification and a haptic alert to the watch. Android Authority reported that the app offers multiple vibration patterns, allowing users to choose a more subtle or more noticeable alert.
Users can also add the currently recognized song to a watch face through a complication, making the track visible with a glance. A dedicated Wear OS tile shows more information and provides access to recently recognized songs. Tapping a track can open it on the phone in YouTube Music, Spotify or another preferred music app. Because the watch keeps a history of recognized songs, users can still find something they missed while it was playing. Android Authority said early users seem happy with the setup and say it works perfectly for them.
The launch comes as Google has already turned Now Playing into a standalone Pixel app. Despite that expansion, Google still treats Now Playing as a phone feature, and there is no official sign yet that it plans to bring the experience to Wear OS. That leaves a gap for an independent developer to fill, especially because a smartwatch is a natural place to glance at a song that has just been identified. Android Authority described Now On Wrist as a welcome bit of gap-filling.
Google’s lack of an official Wear OS version stands out in part because Apple’s new Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 can automatically identify nearby music using Shazam and surface the results on the wrist. Android Authority said Apple’s feature essentially borrows one of the Pixel’s best tricks. Until Google follows suit, the report said, it is good to see an independent developer filling the gap for Wear OS users.
Now On Wrist is available to download on Google Play. It requires a Google Pixel or a phone with compatible ambient music recognition, plus any smartwatch running Wear OS 3.0 or newer. The app is ad-free, and its developer says it does not record audio, collect user data or upload user data.