When Telegram quietly removed its app from Google Play for Wear OS in 2021, it seemed like a rational decision: the platform was declining, the audience was tiny. Five years later, the context has changed dramatically — and Telegram returned on June 11, 2025, exactly two days after releasing its Apple Watch version.
Why they left and why they came back
According to 9to5Google, Telegram officially explained the app's removal by citing low demand and maintenance difficulties. The problem wasn't with Telegram — the Wear OS platform itself had lost Google's attention. After the Wear OS 3 release, the situation changed: Samsung switched Galaxy Watch from its own Tizen to Wear OS, and Google launched Pixel Watch. When Telegram last supported smartwatches, these devices didn't even exist.
"Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, and Xiaomi Watch now run Telegram natively — without a phone nearby"
9to5Google
What the app can actually do
The new Wear OS version covers basic use cases:
- viewing chat lists and reading messages of any length
- sending and listening to voice messages
- viewing media and video messages
- pinning and muting chats
However, the Apple Watch version is ahead of its Wear OS counterpart: it already has sticker sending and geolocation viewing. Telegram promises to add these features later — without specific timelines.
Broader context of the update
The smartwatch release is just part of the June platform update. Telegram simultaneously launched AI tools for group moderation, expanded bot capabilities with Markdown and formatted text support, and updated the browser and chat interface on Android. In other words, the return to the wrist is not a separate initiative but an element of broader ecosystem expansion.
A practical question remains open: if Telegram leaves Wear OS again — and it has already done so once, citing a small audience — will the current Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch user base be enough to sustain support for longer than a few years?
