Google has been big on iOS for a long time, offering many of its special apps to iPhone and iPad users. Now Google is making its way onto the Apple Watch as well.
The Google News & Weather app for iOS has been updated with support for Apple Watch. Once loaded onto your iOS smartwatch, you can scroll through news headlines that include the source of the report, how long ago it was posted, and sometimes an image as well. The app supports Handoff, so if you’ve got a headline open on your Apple Watch, you can then turn to your iPhone and swipe up on the lock screen to launch the Google News & Weather app on that particular article.
Google News & Weather for Apple Watch also includes a Glance that’ll show you a headline, source, and timestamp for a post. Clicking on the headline will push you to the main Google News & Weather app for Apple Watch.
In addition to support for the Apple Watch, today’s Google News & Weather update brings “performance enhancements and stability improvements.”
Considering how much Google has supported iOS in the past, it’s no surprise to see the company adding Apple Watch support to its apps. Sure, Google’s got its own smartwatch platform to worry about, but it also wants to make sure that consumers continue to use its services. And since you need an app on your iPhone for it to appear on your Apple Watch, some consumers might switch away from apps that don’t include Apple Watch support. Google wants people to continue to use its services, so it’s going to update its existing iOS apps with Apple Watch support to try and prevent people from jumping to competing services.