The latest look at 'stock' Wear OS 3 teases what's to come in 2022

A look at Wear OS 3 sans Samsung and One UI Watch.

What you need to know

• Google releases a Wear OS 3 emulator, giving us a look at the upcoming update.
• The UI looks a lot like Samsung's One UI Watch implementation on the Galaxy Watch 4.
• Wear OS 3 is slated to launch on newer smartwatches sometime in 2022.

While we've had a taste of Wear OS 3 for some time thanks to the Galaxy Watch 4, we've only really seen it with Samsung's One UI Watch on top of it. However, an updated emulator image gives us a good look at the "stock" Wear OS 3 update that we can expect to see on devices sometime next year.

The updated image was spotted on a Reddit post by Mishaal Rahman and shows very rounded, pill-shaped menus, not unlike what we've seen from Samsung. Quick settings are shown with more icons, there's a new look for brightness slider and battery page, and tons more.

Much of this has been seen before when Google released the emulator back in May. However, Rahman notes that it now has a build date of November 17, so this is the most up-to-date look we'll get at stock Wear OS 3.

That said, it's not too surprising that much of it resembles One UI Watch to an extent, given that Wear OS 3 was co-developed with Samsung. The new menu UI design has also been seen in updates to apps like the Play Store and Google Messages and will extend to the app menu as well.

It may be some time before we see these changes arrive on devices like the new Fossil Gen 6, since many of the best Wear OS watches aren't expected to receive the update until mid-2022 or later. Even so, with newer processors and Google's newfound focus on improving the overall Wear OS app experience, these devices are still worth a look if you're interested in buying a new Wear OS watch, so long as you're patient.

Worth the waitFossil Gen 6

$230 at Amazon$230 at Best Buy

Wear OS 3 is on the way

If you're looking for a good smartwatch, the Fossil Gen 6 should prove up to the task thanks to its snappy Qualcomm chipset. It's also set to receive Wear OS 3 in 2022, which will make the watch even better.