WhatsApp launches native app for Google's Wear OS

Google first made the announcement that Meta was working on a native app for Wear OS during its annual I/O event in May.(Image: Samsung)

WhatsApp has launched a standalone app for Google's Wear OS for smartwatches.

Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said the app will allow users to have conversations and take VoIP calls without needing to be synced with a phone. The app is compatible with smartwatches running Wear OS 3.

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Google first made the announcement that Meta was working on a native app for Wear OS during its annual I/O event in May. The app was in beta for a while for testing.

Google has promised more third-party native apps coming to Wear OS including Spotify. It will also be updating its own apps for better performance and support on the smartwatch operating system.

In other news, India is set to become the largest market for wearable devices in 2023. According to research firm, IDC India, India will account for 130-135 million units out of the 504.1 million units shipped by the end of 2023. That means 26 percent of the total units shipped.

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Last year, the Indian market shipped 100 million units out of a total of 492 million units, second only to China and North America.

A report published by Counterpoint research in May said that the Indian wearables market registered a growth of 121 percent YoY in the first quarter of 2023. This was largely fuelled by low-cost wearables from the likes of Fire-Boltt, Noise and boAt.