Fossil is now updating its Gen 6 smartwatches to Wear OS 3.5

Fossil smartwatch users who own a Gen 6 model should already have an update to Wear OS 3.5, or expect it to pop up soon. The company began sending out the update as early as last week and has continued to roll it out to more watches leading up to now. What’s interesting is that this isn’t an update to Wear OS 4 instead. Although maybe this shouldn’t be too surprising. Given Fossil rolled out Wear OS 3 to its Gen 6 watches in late 2022 instead of Wear OS 3.5. Which was already available.

That being said there’s no confirmation from Fossil on when or if the Gen 6 devices will get Wear OS 4. Google did note that there were some hardware-related requirements for the software. Which the Gen 6 devices should meet. But if Fossil’s track record for later rollouts is anything to go by, there’s a chance Wear OS 4 may not be coming till much later. If at all.

Fossil Wear OS 3.5 update gets put on pause

The pause should already be lifted according to 9To5Google. Which states that it looks like the update rollout has seemingly resumed. But it’s worth mentioning the pause anyway. Because the pause was issued in the first place due to people having problems with the installation.

The reason is because users were reporting issues with the software after having updated their watches. Including the time it was taking to install the update and issues with battery life. Some users even report having been locked in a boot loop. Fossil acknowledged these issues in responses and confirmed a pause for the rollout. But now it looks like the rollout has started back up. So if you haven’t received the software yet, check your watch again to see. As the update may be available to download.

Wear OS 3.5 is an incremental update

While the update rolling out is definitely a good thing, users shouldn’t expect anything major. As Wear OS 3.5 is just a minor update over Wear OS 3 which the Fossil Gen 6 watches already have. But it does appear to have made some small improvements to performance. Which is a good thing any way you slice it.

Not that the performance on the Gen 6 watches was bad by any stretch. But it certainly doesn’t hurt if it’s made better. Which this update seems to have done.