Mishaal Rahman managed to find an entry on the Google Issue Tracker suggesting that ambidextrous use of its wearables could be coming soon. “Our development team has implemented the feature you have requested and will be available on future new devices,” said the update by Google (via Android Central). The mention of “future new devices” also indicates that existing Wear OS users likely won’t see this feature. This feature has been a long time coming, however. The original post on the Google Issue Tracker is from 2018 when Wear OS was known as Android Wear. So it has taken some time for Google to include this basic functionality on its wearable operating system. However, it’s pretty disappointing that the feature won’t make its way to existing Wear OS smartwatches.
Users can use the Lefty app to fix this issue to some extent
Rahman also talks about an app called “Lefty” for Wear OS, which inverts the default screen orientation. Since this isn’t a native solution, it may not work for everyone. But this could well be your only solution, especially since ambidextrous use would only arrive on future Wear OS devices. Google teamed up with Samsung for the development of Wear OS 3. However, barring the Galaxy Watch 4 series, no other wearable has launched with Wear OS 3 out of the box so far. But a handful of smartwatches from Mobvoi and Fossil will receive Wear OS 3 later this year. Additionally, the Skagen Falster Gen 6 would also get the update. A report last month claimed that Google could be prepping the next major refresh of Assistant to complement the Pixel Watch. However, since the wearable isn’t official yet, we’re unsure what to make of the report. While Google has long offered its own brand of phones (Nexus, Pixel, etc), there hasn’t been a wearable from the company. So the Pixel Watch would finally address that concern.
