October Google System Updates: Connect Wear OS to ‘Multiple Phones’ [U]

With Android 14 and Wear OS 4 both fully released, this month’s Google system updates bring a few more improvements to our phones, tablets and smartwatches, including the ability to connect your Wear OS watch to “multiple phones ».

Update: The latest patch notes reveal new changes coming to the Play Store on Wear OS, among other upgrades.

Apart from the major annual updates to Android, Wear OS, and Google TV, Android-based devices also receive numerous monthly updates delivered through the Play Store. Core Android components can be updated via Play System Updates, while new versions of Google Play Services, Android System Web View, and Play Store refresh even older phones.

Every month, Google compiles various improvements to these apps/services, called “Google System”, and publishes patch notes. The company often adds new details throughout the month, and we’ll do our best to track and explain the most important ones here.

The easiest way to check if you need to update Google Play Services on your phone is to follow the direct link to the app’s Play Store listing and update from there if available. To update the Play Store, tap your avatar in the corner, then tap Settings. In the “About” section, you will see an option to “Update Play Store”. Meanwhile, Google Play System updates can be found through the Settings app under About phone > Android version > Google Play system update.

So far, most of the October 2023 patch notes have been fairly minor, but a few key details have come to mind. For starters, Google notes that Play Services version 23.39 will allow a Wear OS watch to connect to “multiple phones seamlessly.” We’re currently assuming this refers to Wear OS 4’s ability to transfer your watch from one phone to another without having to reset the watch.

Meanwhile, Play Services 23.40 has been tweaked to where files you receive via Nearby Sharing are saved. Before the change, received files and photos are stored in a dedicated “Share nearby” folder in the “Downloads” folder. The company doesn’t specify where the files will be stored now, and this version hasn’t rolled out to our devices yet.

On the Play Store, starting with version 37.8, there will be a “new design on the app details page,” which Google says will make it easier to “discover and learn” about apps on your other Android devices, such as your watch, tablet. , hand game, etc

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Update 1/11: As the wave of Wear OS news continues, a pair of improvements to the Play Store should make the smartwatch app download experience even simpler. For starters, you can apply a watch face immediately after installation, simplifying customization. Meanwhile, any Wear OS apps that tend to crash will display a warning in their Play Store listings, just as they would on a mobile phone.

Word is that the phone/tablet version of the Play Store is getting a few upgrades of its own. In a Material Design change, app search results should now appear as cards. Google says the change is to separate “organic results from other elements” (presumably meaning ads).

Another notable change lets you choose whether the Play Store is allowed to update an app installed by another Android app store. This is likely part of the ongoing changes to Android and iOS related to European Digital Markets Act and similar legal challenges in India.

In Google Wallet news, the app now fully supports image entry of barcodes or QR passes, a feature first seen in June. This allows you to add membership to your wallet without having to integrate directly with the app. Additionally, Google Wallet notifications are supposed to come through the standalone app, if you have it installed.

For those using Nearby Sharing, it’s worth noting that Google announced this month that it will disable the service when a device uses a work profile. No reason for the change was shared.

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Account management

• [Auto, Phone] Bug fixes for services related to account management.

Android smart system

• [Phone] Bug fixes for offline speech recognition settings.
• [Pixel] Fixed bug for live translation.

Android WebView

• Security and privacy improvements and bug fixes.
• New developer features for developers of Google and third-party apps to support functionality related to displaying web content in their apps.

Developer services

• [Phone] New developer features for Google and third-party app developers to support Utilities-related processes in their apps.

Connect the device

• [Phone] Support for seamlessly connecting your watch to multiple phones.
• [Phone] Content received via Nearby Share is saved in a new location.
• [Phone] New developer features for Google and third-party app developers to support device connectivity-related processes in their apps.
• [Phone] Nearby Share is disabled on work profiles.

Google Play Store

• [Phone] A new design on the app details page helps you discover and learn about apps on your non-phone devices.
• [Phone] When apps ask Google Play to download new content or functionality, you can add apps directly to your Google Play library.
• [Phone] Legal documentation of payments is shown on a dedicated acceptance page, which the user must accept to continue shopping.
• [Phone] When tapping on an ad, the image used on the card will be visible as a screenshot on the details page.
• [Phone] Now you can decide whether Google Play can update an app installed by another app store.
• [Wear] Users can now install and set watch faces directly from the Play Store listing and choose to always automatically set watch faces after installation.
• [Phone] Users see SERP content as cards that should help distinguish organic results from other elements.
• [Wear] Warning messages are now visible on detail pages for apps that are prone to crashes.
• [Phone] Some users are given the option to tell the Play Store about the categories of games they are interested in.

wallet

• [Phone] Redirect Google Wallet notifications through the Google Wallet app, if available.
• [Wear] Enable push delivery for wearables.
• [Phone] Support adding wallet passport from images containing barcodes or QR codes.

System management

• [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] An update to System Management Services that improves stability.
• [Phone] Updates to system management services that improve device connectivity, network usage, security, stability, and updates.
• [Phone] Bug fixes for services related to system management and diagnostics.
• [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] An update to system management services that improves privacy.
• [Phone] Updates to system management services that improve device connectivity, network usage, security, stability, and updates.
• [Phone] Bug fixes for services related to system management and diagnostics.