Oliver Mitchell

Google Prepares a Wear OS Tile for Recently Played on YouTube Music

As YouTube Music gets more about music and less about YouTube, here comes another feature required for an audio player by Google. Those with Wear OS devices will now be able to jump to the recently played music with a special home screen tile. This will make playback with YouTube Music much more convenient without any need to look at the phone.

This home screen comes with a dedicated YouTube Music app for Wear OS that was launched recently. With this app, controlling the playback from your Wear OS watch becomes easier, as, unlike the default audio player controls, the native app is better integrated. This home screen lets you return to previous tracks or check them without even a need to run the app. And it’s great, given that smartwatches on Wear OS are still often slow to react, even despite implementing much better hardware and a major software upgrade.

The home tile (as analyzed by data miners) will contain the “Browse” button instead of “Play”. This probably means some basic navigation features. Not only will it allow for playing and pausing the latest playlist or track, but also choosing particular tracks or browsing through all the recent playlists. This may work as a shortcut that opens in the native app.

YouTube Music, along with Google Maps, started as exclusive features of Wear OS 3 (that is, Samsung Galaxy Watch series). The requirements, though, may soften, and new devices (as well as the most powerful of the existing ones) may get these apps too. This will be a great step in promoting YouTube Music within the Google ecosystem.

YouTube Music is still often perceived as an audio-only version of YouTube, something disabled rather than enhanced. This may change as the service evolves. And what do you think about YouTube Music and Wear OS 3? Will both platforms benefit from closer integration? Does it make them more attractive to you? Share your opinion in the comments!