I have been contacted by a number of people about problems with devices running WearOS 5. So this post is a list of some current bugs/changes that I am aware of (probably not complete), with workarounds, where known.
1. Vibration motor not working: vibration commands sent to the watch are either ignored or the vibration is so weak as to not be detectable.
Affects: Pixel Watch 1 & 2 after WearOS 5 update. PW3 probably (to be confirmed). Galaxy Watch 7 series not known.
Freepoc apps impacted: Vibrate The Time, Wear Notification Helper, Wear BT Monitor
Workaround: no workaround known at this stage
2. Right-swipe to close app, no longer closes app: the standard gesture that has closed WearOS apps since WearOS 1.0 no longer does so, it sends the app to background instead. This undocumented change means apps which previously relied on a right-swipe to finish and perform clean-up, no longer work as intended.
Affects: Pixel Watch 1 & 2 after WearOS 5 update. PW3 probably (to be confirmed). Galaxy Watch 7 series probably (to be confirmed).
Freepoc apps impacted: many/most WearOS apps
Workaround: apps will need to be individually remediated (in progress)
3. Apps that require to schedule alarms can’t do so: the required permission is simply not available on the Pixel Watch 3
Affects: Pixel Watch 3 only (as far as we know)
Freepoc apps impacted: Wear Battery Monitor (Play Store version)
Workaround: a version of WBM with the schedule alarm permission pre-granted is available on the Freepoc website, but must be sideloaded using Wear Installer 2
4. Sideloaded apps that require accessibility cannot have that permission granted on the watch: the permission appears as ‘restricted’ with no way to enable
Affects: Pixel Watch 3 only (as far as we know)
Freepoc apps impacted: Screen Lock Helper, Digital Clock Delay, Pixel Watch Notification Fix, Pixel Watch Button Remapper
Workaround: use Wear Installer 2 to grant accessibility permission on the watch when the app is installed
5. Watchfaces designed for earlier WearOS devices (ie. written in Java/Kotlin) not available or limited functionality: this change is well known
Affects: all watches with WearOS 5 pre-installed (Pixel Watch 3, Galaxy Watch 7)
Freepoc apps impacted: none
Workaround: There is no workaround for the Pixel Watch 3. Wear Installer 2 can help install these older watchfaces to the Galaxy Watch 7 series and they will work, albeit with some restrictions.