With the December (2021) Feature Drop, Google enabled the first use case for Ultra-Wideband (UWB) on the Pixel 6 Pro. As part of this, there’s now a settings toggle to enable/disable the chip.
Ultra-Wideband on the Pixel 6 Pro allows for “accurate ranging and spatial orientation.” Last month’s update upgraded Nearby Share so that “you can quickly find nearby UWB devices to share with through the highlighted arc right on your screen.”
Down the road, UWB will aid digital car keys, which today only work with NFC and a physical tap to the vehicle’s door handle. When this is enabled – as Google previewed at I/O 2021 – you won’t even have to take your phone out.
The “Ultra-Wideband (UWB)” toggle can be accessed from the Settings app > Connected devices > Connection preferences. It appears at the very bottom of the page underneath “Android Auto” and is curiously not accompanied by an icon like every other menu item above it.
Meanwhile, UWB is automatically disabled when you’re in Airplane mode and cannot be turned on independently.
The December update’s OTA rollout has of course been pulled due to dropped calls. As such, most users will see the UWB-enhanced Nearby Share (and toggle, which does not appear on devices still running the November build), along with nearly a hundred fixes, later this month via the January security patch.
More on Pixel 6:
- Bellroy says Pixel 6 cases are its ‘most popular product release ever’ amid restock
- Pixel 6’s December update officially paused over calling issues, merged into late January patch
- Here’s where to find the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro in stock [Updated]
- Pixel 6 gets high-profile ‘For All The Fans’ NBA ad [Update: Magic Johnson/Eraser]
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article
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