Left-handed people are often second-class citizens – even on Wear OS. In the future, however, Android smartwatches will adapt better to the user. Not all smartwatch owners benefit, however.

Whether computer mouse, scissors or notepad: our world is designed for right-handers through and through. The number of left-handers in Germany is estimated at between 10 and 15 percent. In other words, millions of people who live with small and large disadvantages in everyday life. The world of Android smartwatches has so far paid little attention to the neglected minority. But that should change in the future.

Android smartwatches will be able to rotate the user interface 180 degrees in the future

They should soon be able to Rotate user interface 180 degrees. Left-handed people can wear the watch the wrong way around, for example operate existing keys more comfortably to be able to So far this is not possible. Google took about four years to implement this function. The first entry in the Google forum is dated April 2018, the corresponding thread has now been marked as “fixed” (closed).

Little fly in the ointment: The The innovation should only be available on “future new devices”. to be, they say. The fix does not reveal what that means in concrete terms. So owners of older Android smartwatches could get nothing. Whether this also includes buyers of the Galaxy Watch 4, to date the only smartwatch with Wear OS 3, is not known. Google and Samsung shouldn’t have any interest in pissing off the left-handed owners of the Galaxy Watch 4 just a few months after it went on sale.

Samsung’s latest smartwatches in video:

Wear OS app “Lefty” upgrades feature

If you are left-handed and want to help yourself in the meantime, you can take a closer look at the Wear OS app “Lefty” (view in the Google Play Store). The free application allows inverting the user interface and thus precisely the functionality that is to be introduced on Android smartwatches in the future.