Andrew Heinzman
The slow trickle of new At a Glance features are always keeping Pixel owners on the edge of their seat. But an upcoming “Cross Device Timer” could take the smart widget a whole new level—soon, At a Glance will show you a countdown for timers made on Nest Hubs and other Google Assistant devices.
For those who are uninitiated, the At a Glance widget shows useful information on a Pixel phone’s lock screen or home screen. Daily step counts, smart doorbell alerts, and Bluetooth battery indicators are just three things that might pop up in At a Glance.
The APK Insight team at 9to5Google discovered a new, unannounced At a Glance feature in the Google app 13.26 beta. While the exact functionality of this feature is unknown, we know that it pulls Google Assistant timers from other devices, specifically smart speakers and displays.
This feature is long overdue and highly requested from Google Assistant users. It could also pave the way for further integrations in the Google hardware ecosystem. (Now, if only Google would work on Android TV’s smart home integration. That’d be nice.)
But we’re still missing a lot of details. We don’t know if your Pixel phone vibrates when the timer runs out, for example. And if the goal is “cross-device” functionality, is there a chance that Nest Hubs could show timers made on your phone?
We’re not sure when Google will launch Cross Device Timers. But based on previous At a Glance updates, I expect to wait a few months.
Source: 9to5Google
