The removable At a Glance widget on the main screen of the Google Pixel phone has quickly moved away from an annoying widget that works a little on an advanced system that can show you all kinds of information. It wasn’t too long ago that it was originally only used as a calendar, weather and travel widget. Thanks to a recent update, it can now show you information from your Nest camera, air quality in your area, and if you forgot to turn off your flashlight.
Soon, there’s another important thing to do at a glance – report the status of the timer you set on a nearby Google Assistant smart speaker like Nest Hub. The strings found in the latest beta version of the Google App (v13.26) suggest that a “cross device timer” feature is coming.
String that 9to5 Google Found specifically mentioned that they would present “timer information from your home device”. Presumably, since this is not an officially announced feature, when you set a timer on a Nest Hub, for example, that timer will mirror your Pixel phone at a glance.
I’m sure you can imagine how convenient this could be. Setting a timer on a smart speaker has always been effective, but since it doesn’t have a display, it’s not fun to repeatedly ask your speaker for a timer update. It will show you the timer information without the need to ask if you have your phone in hand. But even for a smart display, this can be very effective if you go out of the smart display house and still want to keep tabs on the timer.
Google has not yet announced this feature and we have no idea if they will or will it live without much fanfare. Either way, I just know I’m charging my Pixel 6 right now and starting to take advantage of it. Well, once it is live, that is.
Google Play Link: Google App