Google may finally be fixing the one Pixel Watch annoyance I struggle with daily

Google appears to be working on a feature that unlocks your Pixel Watch the moment you unlock your paired Pixel phone, so a Pixel 10 Pro in your pocket would do what your fingers do now.

It is the reverse of today's Watch Unlock, and it would remove a daily annoyance of owning one of the best Android smartwatches.

The feature already has a name buried in Google's code

A new report digging through the Connected Phone & Watch services app found code strings for something called Phone to Watch Unlock. That app is Pixel-exclusive and already powers Left Behind notifications, so the intended audience is fairly obvious.

The strings spell out the flow clearly enough. There is a one-time setup where you enter your current watch PIN or pattern, and after that the watch handles it on its own.

Another string hints the trusted setup can move to a new Pixel Watch without starting over. Nothing is live yet, and teardowns like this sometimes point to features that never ship.

Apple Watch owners have had this for years

If this feels familiar, it should. Apple Watch owners have had Unlock with iPhone for years, where unlocking the phone unlocks the watch as long as the two are in Bluetooth range.

So Google is not inventing anything here, it is closing a gap. We covered Watch Unlock when it first arrived in the other direction, and the reverse is only now turning up in code.

If you wear a Galaxy Watch 8, this may not affect your choice of daily carry, since the code sits in a Pixel-only app rather than in Wear OS itself.

The timing is also interesting. Google has confirmed a Made by Google event for August 12, and the Pixel Watch 5 is widely expected there, so this would fit that reveal or the Feature Drop around it.

Turning off the PIN is not a real workaround

The obvious question is why not just remove the watch PIN. That does not really work, because Google Wallet requires a screen lock on the watch before it will let you add or use cards at all.

So the choice is a PIN you retype several times a day (or a pattern or password) or a watch that cannot tap to pay. We have already covered how fussy Wallet gets about verification on Wear OS, and this sits on top of that.

Phone to Watch Unlock would break that trade-off without loosening anything, since the phone doing the unlocking is already authenticated.

Small fix, and I hope it is not saved for the next watch

This is not the most exciting feature Google could be building, but it is the kind you run into every day. Taking a watch off to shower or charge should not cost you a PIN entry on a screen that size.

My one worry is exclusivity. The code lives in a Pixel-only app, and our Pixel Watch 4 review already liked how much Google layers onto its own hardware, so I would rather this reach watches people already own.

I would personally love to see it arrive in a Feature Drop instead of becoming a Pixel Watch 5 selling point, and hopefully Google reads the room on that one.

• Google Pixel Watch 4 vs Apple Watch Series 11
• Google Pixel Watch 4 vs Galaxy Watch 8
• Come find me on X and Threads for hot takes and behind-the-scenes bits.

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