Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR The Google Pixel Watch 3 is the first known Android device to support Bluetooth Channel Sounding, enabling precise, centimeter-level distance tracking.
This feature is more accurate than traditional Bluetooth signal strength for finding items and serves as a widespread, low-cost alternative to UWB.
While the watch supports Channel Sounding after its Wear OS 5.1 update, the feature is not yet in use, likely in preparation for a future Find Hub app release.
Late last year, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced Bluetooth 6.0, introducing a feature called Channel Sounding that enables true distance awareness by precisely calculating the distance between two devices. This new capability has exciting implications for item trackers, most of which lack precision finding. The catch? It seemed no Android devices on the market supported Bluetooth 6.0 or Channel Sounding. As it turns out, there is one device that supports Channel Sounding: the Google Pixel Watch 3.
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Most Bluetooth devices currently rely on measuring the signal strength between them to estimate distance. While simple to implement, this method is unreliable; it’s imprecise and susceptible to interference, making it frustrating for item tracking. In contrast, Channel Sounding calculates the time it takes for a signal to travel between two devices, achieving centimeter-level accuracy.
If you’ve ever struggled to locate an item tracker using your phone, it’s likely because it was relying on that same imprecise signal strength method. This is why the rollout of UWB (Ultra-wideband) support in devices like the Moto Tag was so significant, as UWB allows for far more precise location tracking than what Bluetooth’s signal strength can offer.
Left: Locating an item tracker using Bluetooth signal strength measurements. Right: Locating an item tracker using UWB.
However, UWB adds complexity and cost to a product. It’s also only preferable for a handful of use cases, which is why so few Android phones support it. In contrast, nearly every mobile device supports Bluetooth. This ubiquity makes Channel Sounding a viable alternative to UWB, even if it’s not quite as precise.
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