Telegram is back on Wear OS after a five-year absence
Telegram has relaunched its app for Wear OS smartwatches, ending a five-year gap that left Android watch owners without native access to the messaging platform. The app returned to Google Play on June 11, 2026 — just two days after an Apple Watch version went live — and works on Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, and Xiaomi Watch devices running Wear OS.
The return
Telegram pulled its Wear OS app from Google Play in 2021, citing low demand and the complexity of maintaining it. Since then, Wear OS itself has matured considerably, now powering Samsung's Galaxy Watch lineup and Google's Pixel Watch series, which gave Telegram fresh reason to come back. Pavel Durov announced the relaunch directly on his Telegram channel.
The app covers the core Telegram experience on your wrist: text messages, voice messages, calls, reactions, chat notifications, chat muting, and pinning. Stickers and contact location sharing are not yet available, but Telegram says those gaps will be addressed soon. The Wear OS version is currently in beta, so a rolling Play Store rollout means not every user will see it immediately.
The platform split
There's a notable feature difference between the two watch platforms right now. The Apple Watch version — out since June 9 — already supports stickers, GIFs, video, and location sharing. The Wear OS version handles chat management well but lags on the richer media side. That gap is a real product delta, not a reporting error, and it signals where Telegram's development focus has been.
For Android watch owners, this is still a meaningful upgrade. Galaxy Watch 7 and Pixel Watch 3 users in particular can now read and reply to Telegram messages without pulling out their phone — useful for anyone who relies heavily on wrist notifications throughout the day. It's the first time Telegram has ever been available natively on Pixel Watch.
What to expect next
The beta tag means the experience may still be rough in places, and the Play Store rollout is gradual. If the app doesn't appear in your search results yet, check back over the next few days. Stickers and location sharing — the features Apple Watch users already have — are confirmed as coming, with no specific timeline given. Keep an eye on 9to5Google for updates as the rollout progresses.
