{"id":177,"date":"2025-09-04T00:12:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/177\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T00:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:12:56","slug":"your-pixel-watch-is-getting-true-hands-free-google-maps-navigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/177\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Pixel Watch is getting true hands-free Google Maps navigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"e_ng\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  title=\"Google Pixel Watch Maps\"  alt=\"A Google Pixel Watch displays directions in the Google Maps app.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Google-Pixel-Watch-Maps-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kaitlyn Cimino \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<p>Pixel Watch will now auto-open Google Maps full screen when you start walking or biking directions on your phone.<br \/>\nUntil now, Maps only appeared as a small arrow notification on your Pixel Watch that required tapping to expand.<br \/>\nThe update is part of Google\u2019s latest Pixel Drop, which is rolling out over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever started walking or cycling directions on your phone and squinted at a tiny arrow on your wrist, this one\u2019s for you. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-maps-crime-tracking-3582037\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Maps<\/a> on Pixel Watch is being updated so that navigation no longer sits as a small notification you have to tap. It will now expand to the full-screen Maps view on your watch automatically.<\/p>\n<p>Google says the change is part of the latest Pixel Drop and will kick in whenever you begin walking or bike navigation on your phone. In other words, start the route on your handset, and your watch jumps straight to the full-screen Maps interface with turn-by-turn guidance, with no extra taps or phone juggling required.<\/p>\n<p> Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n<p>The change arrives alongside other updates in this feature drop, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-material-3-expressive-features-changes-availability-supported-devices-3556392\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Material 3 Expressive<\/a> visual upgrades for Pixel phones and tablets, and new tricks for the Pixel Buds Pro 2, like Adaptive Audio and head-gesture controls.<\/p>\n<p>Rollout starts today and will continue over the next few weeks, varying by device and carrier. The timing also lines up neatly with Google\u2019s new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-pixel-watch-4-hands-on-preview-3587950\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pixel Watch 4<\/a> hitting the scene, so if you\u2019re upgrading, this should make day-one navigation a bit smoother.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kaitlyn Cimino \/ Android Authority TL;DR Pixel Watch will now auto-open Google Maps full screen when you start&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[356,357,358,111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-gadgets","9":"tag-google-maps","10":"tag-google-pixel-watch","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}