Google is preparing new Pixel Watch features; ‘lock when left behind,’ water lock, more

Ben Schoon | Jun 6 2025 - 1:30 pm PT

Google is preparing a couple of new Pixel Watch features, including the ability to lock your phone when you leave it behind, as well as stopping accidental touches in the water.

Evidence in Wear OS 6 – just a developer preview at this point – suggests a couple of tweaks Google is making to the Pixel Watch. The first is a “Water lock” for preventing accidental touches when the Pixel Watch is submerged in water. This is a feature available on some other watches, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Watch, but that Pixel lacks. The strings showing this feature in development were spotted by Android Authority, but they don’t provide a whole lot of context:

<string name=”quicksettings_a11y_water_lock”>Water lock</string>

<string name=”retail_water_lock_title”>Water Lock</string>

<string name=”w2_status_google_wet_mode”>Water lock on</string>

<string name=”water_lock_dialog_title”>Turn on Water lock?</string>

Importantly, Pixel Watch already features “Touch lock,” so it would seem the only logical difference here would be that “Water lock” could perhaps turn on automatically.

More progress on Google’s Adaptive Charging feature was also spotted in the same Wear OS 6 preview. This feature was first uncovered earlier this year, but the latest findings show that there will be an “override” function.

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Finally, it seems Google is going to allow the Pixel Watch to lock your phone when you walk away from it. The current “Watch Unlock” feature allows your connected phone to be more easily unlocked when you are wearing a Pixel Watch, but this new option will do just the opposite. Instead of making it easier to unlock your phone, your Pixel Watch will lock the phone “when it disconnects from your watch.” Google apparently calls the feature “Lock phone when left behind.”

It’s not yet functional, but it was enabled within the software.

It’s unclear when this feature might be added, but it’s logical to guess that the other two will arrive whenever Wear OS 6 rolls out.

Wear OS 6 in itself will also bring Material 3 Expressive to the Pixel Watch, with themeing throughout the system based on your watch face as we previously detailed.