The Pixel Watch’s water drop toggle is extra helpful than you suppose

One of the downsides of getting a contact display in your wrist is that it may be inadvertently touched. In sure conditions, you actually don’t desire that to occur. Thankfully, the Pixel Watch has an answer for this, but it surely’s not weirdly labeled.

Personally, that is one thing I exploit very often. It’s helpful to show off the contact display when sleeping with the watch on, figuring out, and doing actions that contain water. The latter is a clue as to the place you’ll find the Pixel Watch’s contact lock button — it is really known as “Water Lock.”

A current, complicated change

Swapping icons and performance

If you stumbled upon this text as a result of you’ll be able to’t discover the “Touch Lock” toggle in your Pixel Watch, you are not alone. About a 12 months in the past, Google rolled out Wear OS 6 to all Pixel Watch fashions, and with it got here a small however noticeable change. “Touch Lock” turned “Water Lock.”

Before Wear OS 6, the Touch Lock toggle within the Quick Settings was an icon of a hand with a finger pointing up and a padlock within the nook. It clearly depicted the power to show off contact interplay. The new Water Lock toggle is an icon of a drop of water, which isn’t practically as apparent as what it does (or why you may need to use it).

In addition, Google additionally just lately modified how Touch Lock/Water Lock works. Previously, it might solely disable the contact display, however you possibly can nonetheless scroll with the rotating crown. Now, Water Lock disables the contact display and crown rotation. The solely factor you are able to do is press and maintain the crown for 2 seconds to show off Water Lock.

Sometimes it is computerized — however not all the time

When it activates by itself, and when it does not

Despite the icon, Water Lock is helpful for extra than simply moist conditions. In truth, it is when water is concerned which you could be least concerned. The Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 5 (assuming future fashions as nicely) robotically allow Water Lock when extreme moisture is detected. So, it most likely will not whenever you’re simply washing your arms, however it is going to when you by chance fall out of your canoe.

You additionally do not have to fret about manually toggling it on whenever you’re monitoring a swim. Tapping the beginning button on a swim exercise will robotically allow Water Lock — this goes for all Pixel Watch fashions.

Sleep is one other exercise for which you may need to disable the contact display. Weirdly, the contact display is not disabled when sleep is detected, and monitoring is began robotically. However, contact enter, tap-to-wake, and tilt-to-wake are turned off whenever you begin Bedtime Mode (the crown stays lively). The excellent news is Bedtime Mode may be simply automated, so you do not have to consider it.

Useful for extra than simply water

The Water Lock icon and title do not adequately describe the total scope of what it may be used for. I’m assuming many individuals overlook it or suppose Google eliminated the Touch Lock performance fully. As I stated, I believe this characteristic is nice for greater than it is being labeled as.

For instance, when I’m taking part in a sport, doing yard work, or doing any type of exercise that includes lots of motion, I prefer to disable the contact display. On a couple of event, I’ve appeared right down to see some random app or dialog open on the display after I overlook to do that.

It’s additionally nice even when water is not the star of the present. Little drops of water may be worse than full submersion as a result of they’re mistaken for touches. When I am going kayaking, I not often ever get really moist above the knees, however there are sufficient splashes to intervene with the contact display. One time, in the course of a calming paddle, I heard my sister’s voice coming from my Pixel Watch — it had by chance known as her.

All of that is to say that Water Lock is about extra than simply water, and when you did not know the place Touch Lock went, now you do!