Fhggyy5767 Yeah, so after a bunch of trial and error it would appear that option #2 applies in this case. I am not sure what, but GrapheneOS is missing some component used to talk with T-Mobile servers. So what I ended up doing was wiping the eSIM from my GrapheneOS phone, reinstating it on my old stock Pixel 6 Pro and activating it using the Pixel Watch app. You only have to activate the watch one time so I just unpaired the watch from stock and back to GrapheneOS with mobile service activated. It is critical that you don't toggle "Erase downloaded SIM" from the watch when wiping it in order to pair it back with GrapheneOS successfully. I am stoked it finally works but let this be a PSA to those out there: you need to activate Pixel Watch LTE service on a device running something other than GrapheneOS!
Pixel Watch and GrapheneOS
mylesofsmiles Sweet! Thanks for figuring that out. Let us know how the features work with Graphene. Curious about the pulse monitor as well. I do a lot of running. Need the pulse monitor to not stop reading. That's a problem with this Samsung
Fhggyy5767 No problem, I am just glad to contribute something to this. From what I have seen everything works great so far. The AOSP phone app is compatible with Phone by Google on the Watch which is nice. I had Google Messages on GrapheneOS already so that works seamlessly. Play Store, Fitbit, ECG, it all works as it should. The heart rate monitoring is one of the reasons why I bought this in the first place and it is stellar. I came from a Garmin Fenix 5X and although it had some decent heart rate tracking, this one is truly on another level. The one second refresh rate is really cool. Only thing I have yet to try is GPay which should work because the watch itself is whitelisted by Google. As for the battery "concerns" I have read time and time again... Ignore them because I can get up to 24 hours consistently if you disable the extras like always on display, tilt to wake and always on Google Assistant. The other thing is you don't have to opt-in to location tracking, usage & diagnostic reports and Google Cloud Sync and the watch works just fine without them!
Is
mylesofsmiles Is there a Google Voice app for the Pixel Watch?
mylesofsmiles Sounds like everything I was hoping to hear. Looking forward to picking one up. Thank you for all the great info. Really appreciate it. Cheers
Kryptos Are you referring to Google Voice (formerly Grand Central) or voice recording? If it is the former then not yet but they do have LINE available. If it is the latter then there are plenty of options.
mylesofsmiles I meant Google Voice. Not familiar with Line.
Has anyone considered what they might be giving up in terms of privacy / security if they pair a Pixel Watch with a Pixel running GOS? Since the watch can establish its own internet connection, it would not seem that we can rely on GOS to restrict network access.
I really hope I am wrong about this, as I would love to acquire an LTE Pixel Watch, but do not want to neutralize the gains I have made in privacy / security just for the convenience / functionality the Watch brings to the table?
Sorry if I appear to be hijacking this thread. If so, please let me know and I will spawn another. Congrats to the individual(s) who got it working.
mylesofsmiles Hi, did you ever get around to testing Google Pay with the Pixel Watch, paired to a GrapheneOS phone? I'm thinking of also buying a Pixel Watch (WiFi version), and I'm just wondering if everything works on GrapheneOS.
Duct9143 Not yet unfortunately. I really want to test it out but I am experiencing some health issues that prevent me from safely going out in public for the time being. I was able to successfully add my card and it is reflected in my Google Account as well. I don't see why it wouldn't work but I will give you an update if the opportunity to try it presents itself. The only reason why it doesn't work in GrapheneOS is because it isn't certified hardware whereas the Pixel Watch is so theoretically it should be fine.
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Kamaehuakanaloa I briefly touched on this earlier. In order to pair the watch with your phone you need to give Google Play Services some extra permissions. If you aren't comfortable with trading some privacy for convenience and the ability to have a functional Google Pay implementation then I wouldn't recommend getting one. I am not too concerned because I restrict what the watch can access through GrapheneOS and the respective privacy settings on the Pixel Watch itself can be disabled. Now if you want to get carried away you could experiment with a program like this one: [https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachments/wearos-tools-v4-0-rar.5735771/?hash=8b942d3d9c2e0addf1dfcc703861041b]
mylesofsmiles Appreciate the link. I will like experiment with this on my sandbox Pixel 7 Pro.
Saw in another thread that there are plans to put GrapheneOS on the Pixel tablet. Any plans for the Pixel Watch as well?
BalooRJ I don't have any inside knowledge, but would venture to say that GOS on a Pixel watch would be significantly more challenging than GOS on a Pixel tablet. The native tablet is already running Android, whereas the I am pretty sure the Pixel watch is natively running wearos. But anyone please feel free to correct me if I am incorrect.
My suspicion as well.
And as you mentioned earlier, ISTM that the wearos watch - given its dependency on Google stuff on the phone, and especially in LTE version - would serve to increase the attack surface of your P6/7.
For me, a smart watch is very important (presently have an Apple watch), and FWIW am looking at Zepp/amazfit watches running gadgetbridge as a possibility; don't have a P7 yet.
mylesofsmiles do you know which permissions the watch needs exactly? And does it need them permanently or just for the initial setup?
Duct9143 Initially when I was setting it up I couldn't pair the watch until it had enough permissions to connect to my phone and Google Play Services. The watch app is using the following permissions: Calendar, Call logs, Contacts, Nearby devices, Phone and SMS. All are relatively harmless from my perspective compared to the additional utility they provide but everyone has a different threat model. Could you get away with fewer permissions? Possibly? I am not the one who is going to try it though because everything works great as it is!
mylesofsmiles How's the watch working out for you on GOS? Do you get security updates? I'm also curious if the step counter is accurate. Battery life?
mylesofsmiles I too would like to know how your experience has been. Did you find any permissions that you were able to delete post installation? Also, is your watch bluetooth only, or does it have LTE, and if so, were you successful in getting the LTE activated on your carrier?
I was finally able to get a chance to test out GPay today on the Pixel Watch and I am pleased to report it works flawlessly!