Android will likely get built-in support for Wear

Android seems to get built-in support for Android Wear. Version 4.4 of Google Play Services, which was rolled out on Thursday, already includes support for Wear. Until now, it seemed that a separate app had to be installed for Wear support.

Version 4.4 of the Google Play Services app was rolled out on Thursday, but Google itself doesn’t say a word about built-in support for Google Wear. Traditionally, however, Android Police has taken a closer look at the apk and found clues to Wear support.

Google Play Services is an application that Google uses to add functionality to Android without having to update the entire operating system. That support for Wear seems to be built in by default means that Android automatically gets support for Wear, as long as users update the Play Services app. Android Wear, which will run on smartwatches, was announced in March.

Version 4.4 also contains a number of new permissions, which include reading text messages and making the phone vibrate. It is not clear what they are intended for. Furthermore, it seems that external apps will gain access to Hangouts, Google’s chat app via an API. It also seems to be possible to stream the screen of Android devices to a Chromecast; a feature that has been present in Android 4.4 for some time but does not yet work.

Finally, the new Google Play Services app includes functionality to update the operating system. What that option will be used for is not clear; Android Police notes that users probably shouldn’t expect to be able to update Android outside of device manufacturers in the near future, but the option may be built in to update future Silver devices. Android Silver, which hasn’t been announced yet, is rumored to be the successor to the Nexus program and lets manufacturers create Android devices without bloatware and its own interface layer.