In a smartwatch world dominated by Apple and Samsung, Wear OS devices are often overlooked. Watches that use Google's OS may look snappy, but they lack the health and fitness features that made the Apple Watch 5 and Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2 the reason they were purchased.

Google apparently hopes to change this situation. At least, if Google is sending out surveys indicating their intentions for Wear OS. The survey, conducted through Google's User Experience Research Program, asks what features people would like to see in a smartwatch, with health tracking topping the list of additional suggestions.

Droid Life first discovered the survey. The survey asked respondents how they would feel if certain features were included in a smartwatch and how they would feel if those features were not included. Survey participants also suggested the top three improvements they would like to see in the watch.

The list of topics drawn from the survey includes everything from sleep tracking to heart rate alerts, stress tracking, and calorie intake logging. Pairing medical devices with watches was also part of the survey, as was reproductive function and cycle tracking. There are also a number of activity monitoring topics, such as stair climbing, elevation tracking, pairing with gym equipment, etc. [The Droid Life report lists 23 health and fitness topics included in Google's survey.

It is not much of a leap to see Google taking cues from Apple's smartwatch. The use of the Apple Watch has increased in recent years as Apple has moved away from treating the watch as an extension of the iPhone and more as a tool to monitor health and fitness.

The latest version of Apple's watch software, watchOS 6, includes tools for health and activity trending, customized period tracking, and sound monitoring without compromising hearing. Rumors about future watchOS updates point to sleep tracking becoming a larger part of the Apple Watch repertoire.

Samsung's smartwatch efforts have also focused on health in recent years, with the Galaxy Watch Active 2 released last year adding an ECG sensor, the same feature found in the Apple Watch.

Google's obvious interest in the health features of Wear OS is not just a desire to catch up with its rivals. Last year, Google acquired Fitbit, and the company's fitness tracking capabilities will likely play a larger role in future versions of Wear OS.

We expect more details about Wear OS to be announced at Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, scheduled for this May.Wear OS has been absent from Google's recent keynotes, but this increased interest in health may This may be a sign that it is about to change.