Google Play services 5.0 is currently being rolled out to the world. We usually wait to release the Google Play services SDK until the rollout completes. This ensures that your newly-updated apps can run on the most devices as possible.
However, if you want to develop for Android Wear now, complete the following steps to get special access to all the things you need to start developing, without waiting for the rollout to complete.
Warning: Do not publish any apps that are built with Google Play services SDK 5.0 until the rollout is completed over the coming days. Your apps will break on most user devices, which will degrade your apps’ user experience. We’ll publish an update to the Android Developer blog when the rollout is done.
1. Get Whitelisted for the Preview
If you attended Google I/O, your registered Google account is automatically whitelisted for these preview resources. If you didn't attend Google I/O or want to use a different account:
Join the Google Group to get whitelisted.2. Download Required Apps
You'll need the following apps to get the most out of Android Wear:
- Google Play services: Allows your Android Wear device to communicate with your handheld device. This is required to use the Android Wear app and other apps listed below.
- Android Wear Companion: The app for pairing a handheld to a wearable and providing syncing of notifications and data
- Google Search: Enables searches from Android Wear
- Google Keep: Supports the "Take a note" command
- Google I/O 2014: Supports session feedback from Android Wear
To obtain these apps from Google Play, click each app link above and follow these instructions, preferably from your mobile browser:
- Click the Become a Tester button to opt-in to the preview version of the app. The page confirms that you're a tester after clicking.
- Click the Download <app name> from the Play Store link to go to Google Play
Store download page to get the app. The
following screenshot shows how the opt-in process looks like:
3. Start Building
Check out the Building Apps for Wearables training classes for information on how to build for Wear.