Google’s new YouTube Music, Google Maps for Wear OS won’t come to older smartwatches

Google is bringing at least four new apps to the Galaxy Watch 4, and at least two of them will be exclusively available on smartwatches powered by Wear OS 3: YouTube Music and Google Maps. Both will arrive along with Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4, but they will not be available or Wear OS 2 smartwatches, at least for a while.

The redesigned Maps app for Wear OS will make its debut on the Galaxy Watch 4. Aside from some obvious visual changes and some tweaks, the functionality of the new Google Maps app for Wear OS remains the same.

On the other hand, YouTube Music is a new release for the Wear OS ecosystem and will only be available on the Galaxy Watch 4 and any other Wear OS 3 smartwatch that will be released in the future. The new app will allow YouTube Music Premium subscribers to download music for ad-free offline listening, even without their phones nearby.

Additionally, the new YouTube Music app for Wear OS includes the Smart Downloads feature that refreshes all the songs downloaded to the smartwatch whenever it’s charging and connected to Wi-Fi.