Google is making a small but meaningful change to how music and media playback work on the Pixel Watch. With the upcoming Wear OS 6 update, Pixel Watch users will finally be able to keep their media controls visible on the always-on display (AOD), instead of watching them fade away whenever the screen goes dim.
This feature essentially makes the AOD more useful and less of a passive clock screen. Currently, when your wrist goes down or the watch enters ambient mode, the media controls — including play, pause, and track information — either disappear or blur out completely. Wear OS 6 changes that. Once the update rolls out later this year, as reported by 9to5Google, the media interface will stay on the AOD, letting you glance at the currently playing track or control playback without having to wake the screen.
The new interface smartly adapts between active and ambient modes: filled playback buttons become simple outlines, album artwork dims, and the background fades to black to save power while still being readable and functional. Google is also adding a small music note icon as a complication at the bottom of watch faces.
A unified system that keeps apps alive in low power
Credit: Source: 9to5Google
This upgrade is part of a bigger redesign for the always-on experience in Wear OS 6. In the past, only some apps worked with the always-on display, while others just froze or blurred. Developers could turn on a ‘Force Global AOD’ setting in Wear OS 5.1 to keep apps visible, but it was not a lasting solution. With Wear OS 6, Google is offering a more unified system that lets your last activity, like media playback, navigation, or notes, stay visible in a dim, low-power mode.
Combined with the refreshed Material 3 Expressive–based Wear OS 6 design language, these changes make the entire system look smoother and more consistent. And despite these visual upgrades, Google claims the new ambient system is actually more power-efficient, potentially improving battery life by up to 10 percent compared to Wear OS 5.
Again, the update is expected to arrive later this year, likely through a quarterly feature drop, and will set the stage for developers to make better use of the always-on display across all Wear OS 6 devices.
