Play Store issue: no "watch face tag"

Hi to all the stressed out watch faces publishers for Wear OS on the Play Store.

Play Store: new weeks, new problems (as usual from the wicked Google administration).

The issue of the “watch face tag” seems to be back: all the recent watch faces released on the Play Store DO NOT include the “watch face” tag on the store listing even if they have been correctly selected on the Play Console.

This issue will not allow the watch faces to be correctly displayed on the charts and will be practically non-existent on the Play Store.

Personally I have a watch face that has been released for more than 10 days but on the Play Store it is not categorized as a watch face and therefore non-existent to end users.

Thanks Google, after a year your store is getting worse.

Please open support tickets to Google hoping this (yet another) issue will be resolved soon.

BTW, this issue is absolutely not dependent on Watch Face Studio. Samsung has only ever done a great job for us as designers.

UPDATE: after several requests for assistance, it now appears to have been fixed.

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Hi, I released two watch faces yesterday and both have the same problem. The “digital” label is missing. Please, what should I do to fix the problem? I have everything set up correctly in the google console. Thanks to all for your help.

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Wait 2/3 days from release then you should see those options too …

Matteo, thank you i will wait…

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hello.

It seems to have started again.

Existing apps are also random
The watch face tag is gone.

Updates are the same.

why…

Look like this issue has reoccurred again.

The “watch face” tag is not listed in the store and apps cannot be classified as watch faces. I’ve been waiting for more than 15 days now.

No problem instead for the drop down menu.

Hey MD, and all
Am also having same issue but it’s only for new one.
I’m very new to this companion app thing. Do i need to raise to Google or it gets sorted automatically?

Earlier app i added companion app n it works fine but the new one it had me added companion with separate form factor and I’m sure it has something to do with it.
But I’m not sure what i can do to make appear that drop-down.
Currently it shows only this on playstore and it will not show WearOS drop-down…

Any clue?

Thanks,
Niranjan

Wait a few days…

Lately Play Store has some delay to update that side …

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Thanks for the reply…
I raised it to Google support just now and Im sure they will not be able to help but still.

Thanks
Niranjan

@niranjandandekar

Did you see this

Ron
Samsung Developer Relations

Thanks Ron. Yes. I have 2 form factors and everything but it was still showing only mobile version on playstore.
I dont know if its time or they did something on the support ticket but from about 4-5 hrs back I can see the dropdown so issue is resolved.
Im just amazed why a company like google cannot fix this…

and also another one both are appearing with dropdown, both released over weekend.

Expect 3 days from release before they appear for the watch device.
I think there are two reasons for this… One is that the watch content is cached in local servers (probably on some service providers node) and not updated as often as mobile apps.
And second the review cycle for a Watch Face is much longer than an mobile app so even if you are notified they are released the watch face may still be under review.

Ron
Samsung Developer Relations

It seems that the ‘watch face’ tag is missing again. Despite typically appearing within 3-4 days, it has now been almost 20 days and still hasn’t shown up. I’ve checked with multiple developers, and it seems that the issue is affecting everyone. Since the beginning of April, no watch face has the ‘watch face’ tag.

Unfortunately yes!

And I bet that even this time opening a technical support request won’t help.

Well, this time too, all new watch Faces will not be ranked on Play Store.

Yes, tags are missing again… I’ve uploaded a watch face over 3 weeks ago, it still only has “Personalization” tag, so it’s not visible under “Watch faces” category.
Wear OS form factor active, “Wear OS only” version uploaded and available in Play Store, tags set up, etc. - all of that is in order.

I tried uploading a newer version .aab for the Wear OS category last week, hoping that would somehow “nudge” it to become visible, it was approved and released but no change with tags.
No idea how to fix this, other than wait for it to magically resolve itself…

Submitted a support request a week ago with details and screenshots, and still no response.
Seriously, how these issues keep reappearing, and it’s taking Google so long to resolve I just don’t understand… :confused:

What worries me is that last year it took them more than 3 months to fix it.

Support is never helpful. They always reply with pre-packaged messages

Now history seems to repeat itself.

What frustration!

I had to laugh at this response by “Murphy” :slight_smile: Google Murphy’s Law if you don’t get it.

Ron
Samsung Developer Relations

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@r.liechty_SDR

" The principle that if it is possible for something to go wrong, it will go wrong…"

:rofl::rofl::joy:

@RECREATIVE

Unfortunately this is Google’s “support”.

No way to fix anything. Only pray.

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