Pixel Watch 3’s UWB chip offers new features, but there’s a catch

The Google Pixel Watch 3 is making waves as the first Wear OS smartwatch with an ultra-wideband (UWB) chip. This little addition unlocks some cool features, like precise location tracking with Android’s Find My Device and even the ability to unlock and start your car with the watch. Plus, UWB improves the Watch Unlock feature when paired with a compatible Pixel phone.But there’s a catch: these UWB goodies won’t work if your phone is in Airplane mode. This was spotted in a teardown of the latest Google Play Services beta, which revealed that Watch Unlock will fall back to Bluetooth if Airplane mode is on. It’ll still work, but not as quickly or accurately. Once Airplane mode is off, the watch will automatically switch back to UWB, assuming you’re in a country that supports it.