Pixel Watch gets a new way to tell time with 'Vibration watch'

Despite a feature drop last month, the Pixel Watch's April 2024 update brings a new “vibration watch” feature to both generations of the wearable.

To enable, go to System Settings > Vibration > Vibration Watch. This feature lets you tap the watch face with two fingers to tell the time as a series of haptic vibrations. A single click rewinds the hour, while you can double-click to rewind the minutes.

There are two “vibration types”/patterns:

• numbers: Your watch gives a long vibration of 10 and a short vibration of one
• briefRound the current time to the nearest quarter hour. Your watch emits a short vibration for every 15-minute increment

The vibration speed options are: Very Slow, Slow, Medium (default), Fast, and Very Fast. Some owners had this feature active before today.

Surprisingly, this feature is available in the first generation of wearable devices. It's more than functional, but the tactile performance is better on the Pixel Watch 2.

One issue I encountered in brief testing was how easy it was to accidentally activate a complication or swipe up the notification feed when tapping with two fingers. This may be exacerbated by not looking at your watch when tapping.

This Vibration Watch ability somewhat makes up for the Pixel Watch 2 not getting any new features last month, with the March Features Drop focusing on the original device.