Test how your app handles behavior changes
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Wear OS 6 is based on Android 16 (API level 36). When you prepare your Wear OS app for use on Wear OS 6, handle the system behavior changes that affect all apps in Android 16, as well as the changes for apps that target Android 16.

Unless otherwise specified, the changes affect all apps that run on Wear OS 6 or higher, regardless of target SDK version.

As a reminder, watches that launch with Wear OS 6 only support watch faces that use the Watch Face Format. For this reason, we recommend that you migrate to using the Watch Face Format.

More consistent always-on behavior

Wear OS 6 consolidates existing solutions to offer a consistent always-on display experience across devices. As part of this change, the previous top activity remains visible and in the "resumed" state when the device enters system ambient mode.

The current song and media controls remain visible even when the user isn't interacting with the Wear OS device.

Default system font for tiles

Wear OS 6 introduces more consistency for tile typography, which helps users navigate through the tile carousel. On a given device, all tiles use the same font. On some devices, this consistent font is a variable font.

All tiles on a given device use the same font.

More granular health permissions

Starting in Android 16—and, by extension, Wear OS 6—the platform is migrating to the more granular health permissions that Health Connect uses. This affects the following permissions:

Wear OS 5.1 permission (`android.permission`)	Wear OS 6 permission (`android.permission.health`)
`BODY_SENSORS`	`READ_HEART_RATE` `READ_OXYGEN_SATURATION` (sensor available on supported devices) `READ_SKIN_TEMPERATURE` (sensor available on supported devices)
`BODY_SENSORS_BACKGROUND`	`READ_HEALTH_DATA_IN_BACKGROUND`

To learn how to update your app for handling these permissions when it targets API level 36, follow the migration steps shown in the Health Services for Wear OS guide.

Note: To maintain compatibility for apps that target Wear OS 5.1 (API level 35) and lower, the system offers the following support:

If the user installs your app on a device that runs Wear OS 6 or higher, the system automatically requests the READ_HEART_RATE permission on your app's behalf.
If the user previously granted the BODY_SENSORS and BODY_SENSORS_BACKGROUND permissions to your app, and if the user then updates their device to Wear OS 6 or higher, your app maintains the granted permissions.

Tile interaction events are batched

Starting in Wear OS 6, events related to users swiping onto and away from your tile—onTileEnterEvent and onTileLeaveEvent, respectively—are batched. If your app targets Wear OS 6 or higher, call onRecentInteractionEventsAsync() to monitor these events. Don't rely on real time delivery of these events to update your tiles.