Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
Google is working on a feature for the Pixel Watch that alerts you when your phone is left behind.
The feature will also automatically lock the connected Android device when it’s left behind.
The Apple Watch has a nifty feature that notifies you if your iPhone or iPad 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 iPhone gets stolen. The Galaxy Watch also offers similar functionality to let you know when you leave your Galaxy phone behind. Although 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
Copy TextNotify 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
Copy TextUpdate your watch software or use a compatible model.
Not supported watch
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In addition to the already known bits about auto-locking, we have also discovered new information. Based on newer strings discovered, you should be able to disable the alerts on your Pixel Watch, especially when you’re in a trusted location, such as your home.
Additionally, the alerts will go off and automatically lock the phone when you turn on Airplane Mode on the phone, thereby turning off Bluetooth.
Lastly, we have discovered information suggesting that the auto-locking functionality would only be available for one watch at a time.
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 of that either. We’ll ensure to remind you once we’re closer to release.
The article was updated to rectify a mistake stating that the watch gets locked when disconnected. That’s untrue; when the feature goes live, you will be notified on the Pixel Watch if your phone is left behind, and the phone will automatically lock, but not the other way around. We regret the error!
⚠️ 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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