It’s sometime in 2021. the sun is shining and it’s a brave new world. COVID-19 has cured itself by mutating into something that just makes you sneeze a bit and Google has already rolled out the first Google-Fitbit smartwatch that just happens to be running the latest-greatest, feature-packed version of Wear OS on the super-new, 64bit SnapDragon 3300. Apple hasn’t released the Apple Watch 6 for some bizarre supply chain reason and I’ve just penned a speculative article about the allegedly ‘imminent’ Garmin Fenix 8.
Happy Days.
If I recall correctly, it was quite a while ago when Suunto tweaked their Wear OS app to now include sports mode customisation; 3rd party sensor support; full Google Fit integration; routing; route guidance; and a few more niceties. It really is now BY FAR the best sports app on Wear OS. Even people like me who have fond memories of the Polar M600 look back at the (nice) Polar Wear OS app and realise that the former King of Wear OS sports is now looking a bit featureless in comparison to the new kid on the block (Suunto).
Polar’s full app scrolled something like this graphic that I put together a while back in 2016:
Although word of Suunto’s world-beating Wear OS sports app has spread, many Wear OS users still buy cheap watches and when they try to install the Suunto Wear OS app on their Wear OS watch they get this message of incompatibility…grrr….

Maybe it’s deliberately disabled (the Polar app could only be used on the M600 AFAIK) or maybe there are hardware restrictions.
Anyway. The Suunto 7 is now selling reasonably well and the accountancy department at Suunto has taken on an extra person to add up all the extra sales numbers. Happy days in peaceful Finland too.
Then, one unexpected Thursday morning silence was broken in the Suunto reception as the new marketing intern burst in and said “But what if we make our app work on all Wear OS watches”
The Head of Adding Up suggested a paid-for app to do just that and the Head of Raising Awareness & Getting People to Upgrade From Inferior Watch Hardware also thought it was a good idea.
The ten-year-old in me would say, “And then I woke up“. But I won’t say that; wait a minute…