Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google appears to be developing a “Water Lock” shortcut for Wear OS, and it could arrive on the Pixel Watch with the upcoming Wear OS 6 update.
- This feature would likely disable the watch’s touchscreen to prevent erratic behavior and false touches when the device gets wet.
- However, evidence of an accompanying water ejection sound is missing, and there’s no guarantee the feature will be in the final release.
The best smartwatches are typically highly water-resistant, so you can take them into the swimming pool or shower without worry. However, while getting them wet won’t cause damage, it can make them act up. That’s because most smartwatches use capacitive touchscreens, which often behave erratically when water lands on them, leading to annoying false touches and a loss of sensitivity.
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To prevent these issues, many smartwatches feature a dedicated “Water Lock” mode that disables the touchscreen. This mode is often paired with a water ejection feature that plays a specific tone to clear water from the speaker port. On most devices, like those from Samsung and Apple, this water ejection is triggered automatically when you turn off Water Lock, but it can also be activated manually.
In contrast, Google’s Pixel Watch doesn’t offer a dedicated Water Lock mode or a water ejection feature. While it automatically disables touch input when you start a swim workout, it won’t do so if you’re just wearing it in the rain or shower. However, Google may finally add a dedicated Water Lock shortcut with the upcoming Wear OS 6 update.
While digging through the Wear OS 6 Developer Preview, I spotted new text strings suggesting a Quick Settings tile called “Water Lock” is being added. Although the strings don’t detail what this mode does, it will likely work as you’d expect: disabling the watch’s touchscreen to prevent accidental inputs from water.
Code
Water lock
Water Lock
Water lock on
Turn on Water lock? Notably, the code strings also lack any mention of a water ejection feature. Without one, the new “Water Lock” mode would be functionally identical to the Pixel Watch’s existing “Touch Lock” feature. If that’s the case, its only real benefit would be to give users a more clearly named option to enable before getting their watch wet.
Finally, even though these “Water Lock” strings appeared in the Wear OS 6 Developer Preview, there’s no guarantee the feature will show up in the stable update. All we know for sure is that Google is developing this for the Wear OS platform; whether the company enables it on its own watches is something we’ll have to wait and see.
