Add Wear Os App

Add Wear OS App

Wear OS 5 (current 2026). Compose for Wear is the only viable UI.

Reality

• Wear OS app = separate Compose module, not RN
• Pair with main app via Wearable Data Layer API
• Build separately in wear/ directory in your repo
• Submit as separate Play Store entry OR bundled

When to build

• Activity tracking (fitness, sleep)
• Notifications + replies on wrist
• Quick logging (habit, tasks, mood)
• Glanceable data (counter, streak, next workout)

When NOT to build

• Casual content consumption
• Anything text-heavy
• One-off feature (low ROI — small Wear user base)

Project setup

Open Android Studio → New → Wear OS module in your existing project.

android/
  app/             # Phone app
  wear/            # Wear OS app

Build with Gradle:

cd android
./gradlew :wear:assembleRelease

Compose for Wear

// MainActivity.kt
@Composable
fun MainScreen() {
  ScalingLazyColumn {
    item { Text("Today's streak") }
    item { Card { Text("7 days") } }
    item { Chip(onClick = { logHabit() }, label = { Text("Log it") }) }
  }
}

Data Layer (sync from phone)

// Send data from phone:
Wearable.getDataClient(context).putDataItem(...)

// Receive on watch:
class WearListener : WearableListenerService() {
  override fun onDataChanged(events: DataEventBuffer) { ... }
}

Health permissions (if fitness-related)

• ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION
• BODY_SENSORS
• Permissions checked separately on watch

Common gotchas

• Wear emulator is slow → test on real Wear device
• Battery is brutal — limit background work
• No web view, no RN — Kotlin only
• Wear apps can submit separately or as embedded in phone app's APK
• Battery-conscious UI: dark backgrounds, no animations

Build constraint

This skill is for if the user is OK dropping to Kotlin. Otherwise: skip Wear OS for MVP, add post-launch if data shows demand.

Pair with

• add-gemini-nano (Wear devices don't support, so skip)
• set-up-eas-android (Wear is a separate Gradle task)

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: khadinakbarlabs
• Source: khadinakbarlabs/expo-mobile-app-builder
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://khadinakbar.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.