First WearOS App
2022-01-06
I bought a smart watch back in the fall for looking at the time, knowing the day of the week, and keeping track of workouts. Furthermore, I got the watch because the software runs on WearOS. I have heard of WearOS because it uses Android. Hey, I already have a device needed to program Android and have been used to the Kotlin programming language. The possibility of creating an application on my wrist intrigued my curiosity. Well, I had winter break from school to enjoy some new coding projects.
I thought of several ideas for a watch app. It had to be a simple one to develop as my first watch app. An idea I brainstormed for a starting project was to have the magic 8 ball on your wrist. The only input needed is a tap of the watch. Once the tap happens, a new randomized answer will appear. This answer is based on answering a yes or no question. This idea was easy to implement into code for it may have taken me only a weekend to code.
When it came to starting the project, the first thing I worked on was the XML graphics. I created a simple box constraint that is contained within the watch screen. Within this box was a purple triangle with a white text layered above. Next was to make the string change each time the watch was tapped. I added an on click listener onto the box constraint that will change the text to a randomized index of an array of strings.
The basic functionality of the watch app was complete, however, I need to jazz the app more. I struggled to get the animation to work with the XML. After trial and error, the triangle will shrink in size to nothing, then reappear to full size. This animation was seamless when tapped repetitively. With the same logic of randomizing the index of an array, I developed the triangle to be rotated randomly to the index of an array of angles. After the conclusion of spicing up the app, the app was ready for production.
I bought a Google Developer account for $25. The first step was to answer a question about my app. Google won’t allow anyone to randomly post apps without going through the metadata. I typed up a description about the app in a marketing term and added screen shots from the Android Emulator. With WearOS, there was an extra step to fill out information for watch apps as a release type. Once the forms were filled out, I had to wait a couple of days for a rejection from Google. C’mon, why? Well, Google wants the screen shots to not be framed or transparent. They must’ve not liked how I took a screenshot of my PC screen of the watch emulator. Anyone taking screenshots for an app review should capture the screen through the Android Emulator. It took me a while to find a way to reapply for the WearOS release type after going through the changes of screenshots. For sending in another review after WearOS release type rejection, go to Publishing Overview and publish the metadata changes for review.
Thereafter getting approved for the WearOS release type, I compiled my program to an Android App Bundle file. Google approved the watch app. I uploaded my first watch app on December 30 for Magic 8 Watch. :) Currently it has 50 active downloads as of 01/06/2022, which was a surprise to me that many people would download my app. I believe this may have to do with the market of WearOS apps not being as popular, so there is not a lot of competition at the moment. Yet, WearOS has been growing this past year. More WearOS apps to come in the future from me when school and work is not busy.