Final Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview Launched; Brings Third Party iOS App Support

Google has launched the fifth and final Developer Preview for Android Wear 2.0. The next generation wearable platform will be out for everyone in the early February, as per the search giant. Past rumors have said that the actual release date is February 9, however still it's unofficial.

The developers will now be able to deal out their apps to Android Wear 2.0 devices, which will be paired with iPhones, just like they do on Android, Google mentioned in its release post. "To do so, just set the separate true flag in your watch app manifest. This lets the Play Store know that your watch app doesn't require an Android phone app, and therefore can appear in the Play Store on watches paired to iPhones," the company added.

After many months of beta testing, it's nearly done. Google announced Android Wear 2.0 at its I/O conference in May 2016, the new OS version was initially supposed to arrive last fall, but got delayed - first until 'early 2017', then until 'early February', GSM Arena reported.

The last developer preview brings with it iOS support for Android Wear 2.0. This wasn't in previously for the new version, although Android Wear 1.x has carried pairing with iOS devices since 2015.

Apps were also compiled by developers, and with this preview are ready for final submission in the Play Store, so Google is urging them to publish their apps as soon as possible.

With this update, the developers will now be able submit their apps optimised for Android Wear 2.0 as the Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview 5 brings update for the Wearable Support Library also.

With the latest preview, the developers' just need to just flip a flag to toggle to the single-page, icon-only action drawer that will provide faster, more streamlined navigation to different views in your app. The search giant has also added support for NFC Host Card Emulation to enable Android Pay on supported smartwatches, reports 9To5Google. The latest developer preview also brings some bug fixes as well.

Android Wear 2.0 is expected to be released on February 9 along with the launch of the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style smartwatches, said to be the flagship devices of Android Wear 2.0.