Google Updates Pixel Watch App With Light Theme

We’re not expecting a Pixel Watch update this month, but the companion app now has a light theme.

Google has a handful of apps that only have dark themes. The Pixel Watch companion app was one of the applications until recently, which made some thematic sense given Wear OS doesn’t have a light theme (given battery constraints).

Over the past few days, Pixel Watch owners noticed the light background. The app does not offer any manual theme control and was last updated in April (version 3.4), so this is a server-side update.

This change is pretty straightforward. It follows Pixel Studio getting a light theme in March. Clock is another dark theme-only app, while some YouTube Music users want a light mode.

Meanwhile, the Pixel Watch should get its next OS update in June unless Google deems an issue worthy of a bug fixer after last month’s wide Wear OS 5.1 rollout. We’ll see if we get a new version of Wear OS (6) at I/O 2025 that would presumably be based on Android 16. So far, there are no developer sessions about that, though there is a “topic” filter for it. If Google previews it, the Pixel Watch will likely remain on the Android 15-based release for a few more months.