The Android Wear 2.9 app is now rolling out to compatible devices. The update, which was announced last month, brings new notification dots to watch faces as well as improved glanceability to notifications, particularly those with long titles. This update is to the phone app itself which, in turn will trigger an OTA update for your wear device.
Interestingly, my Ticwatch E was already running the latest Wear 2.9 build for watches prior to my phone app being updated this morning.
Although the new notification complications are there, visibility will depend on developers updating watch faces to make them visible. This includes Google. Developers can use the default settings or can change the accent color to match the theme of the watch face. Further, they can use a counter indicator to show the number of unread messages if it works within the flow of the watch face.
I checked the built-in watch faces on my Ticwatch E and none of the watch faces included support the new notifications. I suspect it will be several more weeks before we see them hit devices.
The improved notification cards are a system change so everyone will see those immediately.
If you have the Android Wear app installed on your phone, expect to see the update over the course of the next few days.
