Among Wear OS’ bigger issues is the general performance of the platform. Most smartwatches being sold today are still using the old Wear 2100 chipset, and it isn’t exactly fast. While we all wait on the future, a partial solution for the present-day may have been found. In a curious twist, disabling the automatic brightness feature on compatible Wear OS devices seems to result in a noticeably less lag and stuttering.
This little kernel of information was first revealed over on the TicWatch subreddit, and subsequent tests and reports imply there is a palpable difference in performance. Our own anecdotal experience with a Ticwatch Pro also resulted in a faster and smoother experience when automatic brightness was disabled.
Not all devices support automatic brightness. You’ll need one that has an ambient light sensor for the setting to be available, though many models now have that feature.
It’s a curious development, and we don’t have an explanation for it, but by far the majority of Wear OS device owners that have tried it are reporting a noticeable difference. We reached out to Google about these reports and were told that the company is currently investigating them. In the meantime, placebo or not, plenty of Wear OS owners seem to think disabling automatic brightness makes a difference. Maybe give it a try on yours. (That is, if Wear OS even works for you right now. I haven’t been able to complete the setup process and copy my account to a Wear OS-powered device for months.)