If you leave your phone at home, no problem: as long as your watch is connected to the internet, you’ll be able to get directions to where you need to go.
Google Maps on Wear OS is getting a big navigation upgrade. On Thursday, Google announced that you can now get turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps on internet-connected Wear OS watches without a smartphone (via Droid Life). That means if you’re out and about with a cellular-connected watch (like, say, the cellular-enabled Pixel Watch) with an active LTE plan or your watch is connected via Wi-Fi, you can get directions right on your wrist even if you don’t have your phone.
Wear OS fans have been waiting a little while for this update; Google and Samsung had said in August that phone-less Google Maps navigation for Wear OS watches was on the way. At the time, Samsung said the feature was “coming soon,” according to 9to5Google — turns out that translated to “about five months.”
To use the feature, just open Google Maps on your watch and use the keyboard or your voice to input where you want to go. You can read more about it on Google’s support site.
