Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a feature that alerts you on your phone when your Pixel Watch is left behind.
- The feature will also automatically lock the Pixel Watch when it’s left behind.
- Another feature may also alert you on your Pixel Watch when your phone is left behind.
The Apple Watch and the Galaxy Watch both have a nifty feature that notifies you if your watch gets left behind. Besides reminding you not to forget it while stepping out of the house, the feature can also instantly alert you if your watch gets stolen. While the Pixel Watch lacks this functionality, we’re now seeing signs that Google is working to bring it.
We’ve spotted references to a feature called “Notify when left behind” in a system app that will facilitate this functionality. The following lines of code point to the feature:
Code
Notify when left behind
Notify when phone is left behind
To use this feature, your watch must be on your wrist and Bluetooth must be on for both your phone and watch
To turn on, make sure your watch is unlocked. If that doesn’t work, try again later. Based on the code we’ve discovered, the feature has a few requisites, especially that both the phone and the Pixel Watch must have their Bluetooth turned on.
It is possible that certain models of the Pixel Watch may support this feature, and that is indicated by the following set of strings from the code:
Code
Update your watch software or use a compatible model.
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Besides alerting you, the feature could also automatically lock the Pixel Watch when it gets disconnected from the phone. It will also automatically lock the watch when you turn on Airplane Mode, thereby turning off Bluetooth.
You should be able to disable the alerts on your phone, especially when you’re in a trusted location, such as your home.
We couldn’t get the feature working and aren’t sure what it could look like. While that is some indication we may not see it being implemented soon, there’s no guarantee. We’ll ensure to remind you once we’re closer to release. Incidentally, Google is also working on a feature for the Pixel Watch that reminds you when your phone gets left behind.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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