Newsletter
Look, there’s no beating around the bush, taking screenshots on almost all Wear OS watches is an abysmal experience, but Wear OS 4 might just fix that.
According to a new report from XDA, Google seems to be adding a change to make this whole process easier. That being said, Wear OS 4 arrives later this year. So don’t expect this to be available anytime soon. Also worth noting is that it’s still unclear which watches will get Wear OS 4. If there are any current devices that will be compatible in the first place.
For current devices, to take a screenshot you have to open the Wear app and initiate the screenshot from there. It’s cumbersome and unintuitive. And just forces users to take unnecessary steps. The only exceptions to this really are the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5, and some TicWatch models from Mobvoi. All of which also run Wear OS, but can take screenshots just by pressing a couple buttons simultaneously.
Wear OS 4 should allow screenshots with a button combination
It’s not confirmed but it looks like Wear OS 4 may allow you to take screenshots using a button combination. Just like watches from Samsung and Mobvoi.
A screenshot shared by XDA shows a new setting in ‘gestures’ that lets you take a screenshot by pressing the crown button and the side button at the same time. This is also a toggle that you can turn on or off. So it looks like Google will let you disable it if you don’t want this function to be active.
You probably aren’t going to be taking too many screenshots on your Wear OS smartwatch. But that doesn’t mean the act of doing so shouldn’t be easier. If this is a minor complaint you’ve had about the OS, things finally look to be changing.
