This open-source operating system for smartwatches just got a big update
AsteroidOS is an open-source operating system for smartwatches, based on Linux. Nearly eight years after the first version, Asteroid OS 2.0 has been released with more supported watches, more launcher styles, and much more.
You might remember AsteroidOS from its first stable release in 2018 , which delivered an open-source and de-Googled alternative to the stock Wear OS software on various LG G Watch, Asus ZenWatch, and Sony Smartwatch models. It didn't have advanced apps or a voice assistant, but it did offer several watch faces, mirrored phone notifications, media controls, and other essential smartwatch functionality.
Thankfully, the project isn't dead. This week's AsteroidOS 2.0 update adds more helpful features, like an always-on display mode, tilt-to-wake, a palm gesture for activating sleep mode, a heart rate monitor, volume controls for remote audio, and step counting. It also has support for compass sensors and Bluetooth HID and Audio modes.
There are some helpful design updates, too. The quick settings panel from the previous version has been reworked into a "highly customizable QuickPanel with many more settings toggles, app short cuts and remorse timer driven power off." There are also seven new app launcher styles, a better gallery for wallpapers and watchfaces, and a nightstand mode. The timer, calculator, and weather apps received a design overhaul, and a 2048-like 'Diamonds' game and a flashlight app are now included in the operating system.
AsteroidOS requires a synchronization app on your phone for notification mirroring and other functionality. Thankfully, those have all been improved as well. The AsteroidOS Sync app for Android now has call detection and simplified pairing, and you can now pair the watch to a Linux desktop or SailfishOS phone with Amazfish . There's also an initial sync client for Ubuntu Touch, called Telescope .
More smartwatches are now supported, including Fossil's Gen 4, Gen 5, and Gen 6 smartwatches, the Huawei Watch and Huawei Watch 2, several Ticwatch E and Pro models, the OPPO Watch, and the 2015 Moto 360. AsteroidOS is partially working on the Casio WSD-F10/F20, LG Watch Urbane 2, first-gen Moto 360, Samsung Gear Live, and Samsung Gear 2.
The blog post explained, "The Samsung Gear 2 (rinato) is our first watch supported with a mainline Linux kernel and therefore without the use of libhybris. The Asus Zenwatch 2 (sparrow) also has very basic support for running on a mainline Linux kernel. […] Apart from adding new watches, the community has also been actively enhancing the support for our existing range of watches."
AsteroidOS isn't the only open-source smartwatch project, but it does seem to be the only large effort aimed at repurposing existing hardware. Pebble watches , the Bangle.js watch , and the Pine64 PineTime are focused on software development for their own hardware.
You can check the watches page for a list of all currently-supported models with installation instructions. AsteroidOS is planning to have more frequent stable releases in the future, instead of the v1.1 rolling release that existed for a few years, so we hopefully won't be waiting another eight years for another big update.
Source: AsteroidOS
