Does Wear OS have a concept of a system-level assistant app? - android

My Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic has a behavior where I can hold down one of the buttons to launch a voice assistant. When I got the watch, this was Bixby, Samsung's assistant app, but a later update added the ability to configure the app to launch the Google Assistant instead.
Is this functionality an affordance built into Wear OS, or my watch's firmware? Is it possible for me to write a Wear OS app that offers assistant functionality and can hook into this same action to trigger the app?

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Use Android Auto App in Android Automotive Emulator

I saw that there is a DHU for Testing Android Auto Apps during development.
At the same time, there is an Emulator with system images from Volvo and Polestar to use Android Automotive in Android Studio.
I found this on Google Android Auto webpage:
You enable Android Auto to connect with your phone app by creating
services that Android Auto uses to display a driver-optimized
interface to the driver. You reuse these services for your Android
Automotive OS app, but users do not install your phone app on their
cars.
I was wondering if I develop some app for Android Auto, how complicated is the process of transforming this app to use it in Android Emulator or as an Android Automotive App?
The whole let's say business logic behind Apps should stay the same and services, according to Google, should work on Automotive as well? So the only difference is in UI?
Thanks!
Take media app as an example
It isn't complex, there is step-by-instructions at https://developer.android.com/cars to port your Android Auto app to Android Automotive OS.

Standalone Wear OS watchface without Android app

I have a standalone Xamarin Watchface for Tizen and I want to bring it over to Wear OS - is it possible? Without any companion app (e.g. no Android app)? When I try to add an app on Google Play it requires "phone" and "tablet" screenshots before even asking for app type. What kind of screenshots should I provide in such case?

Packaging Wear 2 application

I am new to application development for Android Wear. My company needs to deploy to the customer our Android Wear application without using Play Store.
I have read this
https://developer.android.com/training/wearables/apps/packaging.html
but I don't understand if it is possible to use the embedded method like wear 1.x on wear 2. I tried the embedded method but when I install the phone application and if I check the log of wear I can see this message:
I/PackageChangesService: App is not installed
Before posting this thread I read on Stack Overflow many possible solution for this, like using the same name space, same permission on phone and wear etc. But I can't find a solution that works.
So on an Android Wear 2 smartwatch it is not possible to use the packaging method?
From this article,
A Wear 2.0 user must visit the Play Store on their watch to install apps. There is no auto-install like on Wear 1.X. Wear 2.0 apps
get full network access and can be installed completely separately
from the handheld app so the focus is much more on standalone Wear
apps than the handheld centric 1.X Wear apps.

App-provided Voice Action on Android 5.0.1 Device NOT Wear

Having come back to Android programming after some time away I'm currently investigating whether I can create a custom 'App-provided' voice action that will work on an Android phone.
As described here a custom voice action can be added but it appears to imply it only works on a 'Wear' device not a handheld. However as I can use the "OK Google" voice-command to set a timer on my Android 5.0.1 handheld device I wondered if the above link applied as well, but it appears not when I try it.
Is it the case custom app-provided voice actions are only available via a Wear device?

Can I develop Android watch app to run without mobile phone?

I am planning a new application that I would like to put on the smartwatch. I would like to have it usable also when there is no phone nearby. The app needs no Internet connection to work, could synchronize data to the phone later and I do not need anything from the phone while the app is running. However I could use the phone no problem to install the app.
I have googled, there are some foggy talks on a web that this is not possible, Android watch must always be connected to the phone for apps to run. How much is it true?
With Android Wear 2.0 it is possible to now develop standalone applications and thus eliminates the need for a mobile 'companion' completely.
Please follow this link for more information: https://developer.android.com/wear/preview/index.html
As I am aware, the current Android Wear version always requires a companion app for installation purposes etc. But with 2.0 this is no longer necessary. It would probably make sense for you to start developing with 2.0 now. That being said, it is still in a development preview and can officially run on only two smart watches (Huawei Watch and LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition)
Wearable apps are run directly on wearables and don't require presence of a phone except for installation or phone-provided features (voice recognition, SMS, internet connection etc.)
Note that some features are wearable-provided or phone-provided depending on the hardware configuration of the watch/wearable (eg. GPS).
Yes, it is most definitely possible. As long as the wearable app doesn't require any functionality from the phone then it can operate as a standalone device. It will require a companion app on the phone to install the app on the wear device.
There are several wear apps that work without the need to be tethered to the phone, including Google Play music. There is the possibility of designing wear apps for hardware on only a few wear devices - I know that Ghostracer has standalone functionality using GPS, but it requires the wear device to have a GPS chip (it is designed for the Sony SmartWatch 3).

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