App icons now pop up on Wear OS tiles with Pixel Watch update

A small but cool update is rolling out to the Pixel Watch, bringing app icons to Wear OS Tiles. This change comes with the Wear OS 5.1 update and makes it easier to spot which app is behind each Tile. When you swipe left or right through your Tiles, a little app icon shows up at the top of the screen for about a second before fading away. It’s a quick flash, but it adds a nice touch to the experience.

The icons appear in a round overlay, popping up briefly without blocking the Tile’s info—like data rings, which usually sit lower on the screen. It’s a simple tweak, but it makes things feel more polished. This idea isn’t brand new; Google first showed it off back in 2021 with Wear OS 3. Since then, it’s popped up in ads and developer guides, but only recently started showing up on Pixel Watches.

This update started appearing for some users after resetting their Pixel Watch 3 around December or January, when it was running Wear OS 5 and Android 14. It’s a small change, but it’s one of those details that makes using the watch a bit smoother. For now, it’s a fun little upgrade that hints at more improvements Google might be planning for Wear OS down the road.