Android Wear 2.9 will add unread notification dots on all watch faces

Developers also get new goodies with the new Android Wear SDK 2.2.0.

If you're an Android Wear loyal and still rocking a smartwatch that's powered by Google's wearable OS, you've got a new feature to look forward to with the upcoming 2.9 release – an unread notification indicator.

Receiving notifications from your phone is one of the highlight features of smartwatches, but if you get busy and forget to check your watch after some time has passed, there's no way to see if you have unread texts or emails without swiping to access them. With the release of Android Wear 2.9, you'll begin to see an unread notification indicator on all of your watch faces if there are notifications you missed.

This indicator will be positioned at the bottom of your watch faces by default, but developers can use the new Android Wear SDK 2.2.0 to adjust the position and appearance of this.

Additionally, the new SDK also adds better permission handling and a new drawable callback to improve the performance of watch face complications.

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