A new teaser coming from a new Settings page related to Smart Unlock suggests that the Google Pixel Watch could be joined in the autumn launch by a dedicated application.
The news is not yet official, given that the information was learned from the colleagues of 9to5Google through the classic “APK Insight”, this time concerning Google Play Services. In short, there is still plenty of time for the Google team to decide to take a different direction.
Last January, Google announced that smartwatches upgraded to Wear OS 3 would soon acquire the ability to unlock Android smartphones and tablets and Chromebooks. This function has all the air of being a significant improvement of the classic Smart Unlock method, both in terms of safety and speed of operation.
At the very moment in which the Mountain View giant had spoken of “compatible Wear OS 3 models”, the thought immediately went to Google Pixel Watch, which at that moment did not yet officially exist but was already much talked about.
Well, now important confirmations have emerged from the analysis of the latest beta version of Google Play Services, 22.22. The source managed to activate a Smart Unlock settings page that talks about automatic unlocking of the Android smartphone as long as the user has the smartwatch on their wrist, unlocked and in the vicinity of the smartphone.
In addition to this, we expressly refer to an initial configuration requiring the use of the Google Pixel Watch app: “To set up your watch for Smart Unlock, connect it to your phone with the Google Pixel Watch app. Your watch and phone must be connected to use Smart Unlock “.
In short, these few words show that the Google Pixel Watch will be supported by a dedicated companion app, a bit like it already happens with the Google Pixel Buds. At present it is impossible to know in what Pixel Watch will differ from other smartwatches with the same OS to the point of justifying the existence of another special app, for sure the interface of the latter will be in perfect Material You style.