Google has talked about this update earlier and now it is coming to Wear OS smartwatches that are compatible.
Google is now bringing a major update to Wear OS smartwatches which will make them more useful on-the-go. The wearable platform is now able to give you turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps on your wrist. And the best part is that you don’t need a phone paired to the smartwatch for the feature to work.
Google talked about this feature a few months back, and now users finally get to use it on their Wear OS-powered smartwatches, as long as the device is compatible for the feature to work. The new update is available if your smartwatch supports standalone LTE connectivity, which means you need to have a SIM-supported Wear OS smartwatch.
In addition to this, you need to have an LTE plan which will offer all-time connectivity, another important part of the turn-by-turn navigation. And the last point is that the smartwatch needs to be connected to the phone once to enable this feature and rest of the activities will start automatically.
While the feature is available on the phone and the smartwatch (via the phone), you can disable the phone mirroring option from the settings on the phone to keep it exclusive to the smartwatch.
Once your smartwatch checks out in terms of these requirements, open Google Maps on the Wear OS watch, select your destination, mode of transport (via voice or keyboard) and get the ETA for the journey. Now, hit the start button and the turn-by-turn navigation feature will work standalone on the smartwatch.
Google is also bringing other changes for its mobility products, especially Android Auto which is now being upgraded to a new user interface that offers split-screen viewing so that you can have navigation and music running on the same interface. There are other new features which makes Android Auto more capable and useful on-the-go for the user.