The implementations disclosed provide apparatus, systems, and methods for downlink control information (DCI) enhancement for a reduced-complexity new radio (NR) wireless device. The wireless device includes one or more processors configured to transmit a type of the wireless device to a base station communicatively coupled to the wireless device. A format of the DCI is received from the base station. The DCI includes multiple bit strings indicating a schedule of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The format specifies a respective number of bits for each bit string. The format is defined by the base station based on the type of the wireless device. The DCI is received from the base station using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The multiple bit strings are extracted from the DCI based on the format of the DCI.