Google shows off a new way of unlocking your Pixel using your smartwatch
One of the features that Apple introduced was the ability to unlock the iPhone using the Apple Watch. Now, Google has something similar using trusted Bluetooth devices as part of Smart Lock, but now at CES 2023, Google has decided to introduce an improvement to the feature.
This new feature is called Watch Unlock and as the name implies, it means that you can use your wearable to unlock your Android smartphone. Basically the idea is that this will act as a fallback security feature in the event that your face isn’t recognized by your phone or if fingerprint unlock isn’t working.
The downside here is that it will only give users access to tier 1 security, meaning that any other features in the phone that might require biometric security will not work, along with contactless payments.
In a way it’s similar to how it works on the Apple Watch, where the watch paired with your phone assumes that you are the user and will be able to unlock your phone for you. It’s quite a straightforward feature and it’s pretty cool especially if you’ve bought into the Android ecosystem and was looking for something similar to what Apple offers.
Source: Android Police