Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google appears to be developing a phone-to-watch unlock feature for Pixel watches.
- The feature will automatically unlock your watch after unlocking your paired Pixel phone, effectively reversing the current watch unlock feature.
- Our findings suggest it will be exclusive to Pixel devices through Google’s Connected Phone & Watch services app.
Google now allows compatible Pixel watches to help you unlock your phone through its Unlock watchbut it seems that the company is now creating the feature in reverse.
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While searching through Google’s Connected Phone & Watch services app, we found strings of codes for an “Unlock Phone to Watch” feature that would automatically unlock your Pixel Watch every time you unlock your paired Pixel phone.
Code
Unlock your watch with this phone
Skip entering a PIN or pattern. Simply unlock your
phone to use your watch. Unlocking your watch just got easier
Phone to Watch Unlock Skip entering a PIN or pattern. Simply unlock your phone
to use your watch. Automatically unlock your watch?
Watch unlocked Unlocking your watch
Enter current PIN/Pattern on your watch Enter current pattern on your watch Enter current PIN on your watch
Unlocking your phone will now unlock
%1$s instead of %2$s Since these chains are part of the Connected Phone & Watch services, a Pixel-exclusive app that also powers features like Left behind notifications and Lock your phone when you leave it behindAll signs point to the new Phone to Watch Unlock feature being exclusive to Pixel devices rather than being a generic Wear OS component.
A string labels the settings page “Unlock your watch with this phone,” while promotional notifications explain exactly what the feature does, meaning users can skip entering a PIN or pattern and simply unlock their phone to use their watch.
Users can also see notifications such as “Automatically unlock your watch?” and “Unlocking your watch just got easier,” suggesting that Google intends to actively inform users about the feature once it’s available.
Like Watch Unlock today, Phone to Watch Unlock appears to require a one-time setup. Strings like “Enter the current PIN/pattern on your watch” indicate that you will need to verify your watch’s existing credentials before the phone can automatically unlock it.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Once enabled, the app contains status messages including “Unlocking your watch” and “Watch unlocked”, which show that the unlocking process occurs automatically after the paired phone is authenticated.
It also appears that Google has considered users upgrading or switching to new Pixel watches. According to one of the chains, the trust relationship can be transferable from one Pixel Watch to another without having to rebuild the entire configuration.
The feature is not currently available and it is unclear when Google plans to roll it out. However, the functionality makes a lot of sense. These days, taking off your watch, even briefly, means entering a PIN or pattern the next time you wear it. With Phone to Watch Unlock, an already authenticated Pixel phone can automatically unlock a connected Pixel Watch, saving you from having to type a PIN on your watch’s small screen several times a day.
⚠️ A APK Teardown It helps predict features that may come to a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, such planned features may not make it to a public release.
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