Navigation with Compose for Wear OS

The Navigation component in Android Jetpack provides support for Jetpack Compose applications. You can navigate between composables while taking advantage of the Navigation component��s infrastructure and features.

This page describes the differences with Jetpack Navigation on Compose for Wear OS.

Setup

Use the following dependency in your app module’s build.gradle file:

Kotlin

dependencies {
    def wear_compose_version = "1.3.1"
    implementation "androidx.wear.compose:compose-navigation:$wear_compose_version"
}

This is used instead of the androidx.navigation:navigation-compose artifact because it provides alternative implementations specific to Wear OS.

Create a navigation controller, host and graph

Navigating with Compose for Wear OS requires the same three components needed on non-Wear OS apps: the navigation controller, host and graph.

Use rememberSwipeDismissableNavController() to create an instance of WearNavigator, an implementation of NavController suitable for Wear OS applications:

Kotlin

val navController = rememberSwipeDismissableNavController()

The NavController is the primary API used to navigate in Compose applications. It controls navigating between composables in the navigation host which, on Wear OS, is SwipeDismissableNavHost.

Kotlin

val navController = rememberSwipeDismissableNavController()
SwipeDismissableNavHost(
    navController = navController,
    startDestination = "message_list"
) {
    // TODO: build navigation graph
}

Like the NavHost composable, it takes a reference to the navigation controller, the route for the start destination, and the builder for the navigation graph which is shown here as a trailing lambda.

The start destination must be provided in the navigation graph builder, along with all other destinations that should be navigable with the navigation controller.

val navController = rememberSwipeDismissableNavController()
SwipeDismissableNavHost(
    navController = navController,
    startDestination = "message_list"
) {
    composable("message_list") {
        MessageList(onMessageClick = { id ->
            navController.navigate("message_detail/$id")
        })
    }
    composable("message_detail/{id}") {
        MessageDetail(id = it.arguments?.getString("id")!!)
    }
}
Navigation.kt

To learn more about Jetpack Navigation, see Navigating with Compose or take the Jetpack Compose Navigation code lab.