Wear OS Finally Gets Fast Pair Feature Ahead Of Pixel Watch Debut
Google has had a somewhat ambiguous relationship with spin-offs of its Android platform on other devices. There hasn't been much confidence in the company's commitment to Wear OS, for example, at least until it launched Wear OS 3 on the Galaxy Watch 4 Series. Even then, it would take even bigger proof of its stakes in the wearable platform, possibly in the form of its very own smartwatch. That finally happened with the confirmation of the Pixel Watch's arrival later this year, and it seems that it is pushing things along, hopefully to the benefit of all Wear OS smartwatches, as well.
After years of speculation and wishes, Google finally confirmed that its very first self-branded smartwatch is coming soon. Granted, we still don't know a lot about the Pixel Watch other than its unique and beautiful design, but its mere existence is enough to get Wear OS believers excited. That it will be using a very old Snapdragon Wear processor might be a bit concerning, but rumors of a custom co-processor could help balance out the performance impact.
The Pixel Watch's significance goes beyond the hardware, though. If Google is playing the smartwatch game for real, it will have to make sure that Wear OS is in the right shape to make its hardware competitive. That seems to be the case with recent improvements in Wear OS, including the launch of the second-ever Wear OS 3 smartwatch. Now a new feature has landed on the wearable platform, most likely to pave the way for the Pixel Watch's launch in a few months.
Google brings Fast Pair to wearables
The Google Fast Pair service isn't exactly new, but adoption hasn't exactly been fast, either. In a nutshell, Fast Pair allows owners to link paired Bluetooth devices to their Google Accounts so that they won't have to do the Bluetooth pairing dance again and again for every new Chromebook or phone. The feature is already available on a number of headphones, but only a few Fitbit models support it on the wearable side of things.
A Google System Update reveals that this functionality has recently been added to Wear OS to make it easier for smartwatches to pair with headphones that were already linked to a Google Account before. This new feature seems to have been made with the Pixel Watch in mind, and, in fact, the smartwatch's store page now mentions this new feature. The company talks about how easy it will be to pair watches, earbuds, and phones, particularly letting the Pixel Buds Pro switch seamlessly between connected devices. Although only the Pixel Watch so far mentions this feature, Fast Pair will hopefully be available on all other Wear OS 3 watches, at least when more of these devices finally land on the market.