Wafer Unifies App and Device Context
Wafer
This is really a bid to turn apps into back end services and make the operating system the main interface. Wafer sits below the app layer, so it can watch patterns across calendar, messaging, ride hailing, music, and other apps that are normally isolated from one another. That lets it surface the next likely action, like comparing Uber and Lyft before a meeting, instead of waiting for the user to open each app manually.
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Regular assistants are boxed in by Android’s sandbox and by developer exposed hooks. Android documentation says apps are isolated from each other by default, and Wafer argues this is why an assistant app can only act on the narrow functions another app has chosen to expose.
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That makes Wafer closer to an Android fork than to Perplexity Assistant or a launcher. Perplexity can become the default assistant and trigger actions like ordering a ride or reserving a table, but Wafer is aiming for broader read access across the whole device, which is what enables proactive suggestions instead of one shot commands.
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If this model works, app makers keep owning supply, inventory, identity, and payments, but lose control of the user relationship. The OS decides what gets shown first, and the visible app interface starts to matter less than the app’s ability to provide reliable data and actions to the system.
The next step is a fight over who owns this layer on Android. Perplexity is already moving onto carrier backed devices, and phone makers like Samsung and Nothing are looking for AI features that differentiate their hardware. The winner will be the platform that can safely combine deep device context, reliable actions, and OEM distribution into a default mobile experience.