2024 passed by without the smartwatch feature I wanted the most

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

As smartwatches grow more powerful and add more utility, they’re starting to hold as much personal weight as our phones. This means that an easy way to lock and unlock it becomes imperative. Even the best smartwatches opt for PIN-based systems, but if you’ve ever used a smartwatch for payments, you’ll know that typing these figures into shrunken screens is awkward and annoying. A faster, alternative authentication method, like a smartwatch fingerprint sensor, would ideally quickly solve this issue.

Make security easier for users, not another hurdle

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Akin to tiny smartphones, smartwatches now have access to masses of our sensitive data. While they’ve gained all sorts of fitness tracking and smart features in the past few years, their authentication methods have remained stuck in the last decade. Even if you purchase Samsung or Apple’s most expensive smartwatches, you’ll be tasked with inputting a PIN or password to unlock your device or authenticate payments.

Thanks to my usage habits, I regularly unlock my wearable more than once a day. I often remove my watch while doing the dishes or showering, which locks it once more. When I am wearing it, I often find that wear sensing doesn’t work as reliably as it should, either. This back-and-forth dance, which requires multiple PIN inputs, becomes incredibly annoying. Neither PINs nor passwords are particularly quick or fuss-free to input multiple times a day. In fact, it has gotten to the point that I’d rather forego any authentication system on my wearables and, therefore, payments. Scratching through my wallet and tapping my card is far easier than tippy-typing a PIN a thousand times a day.

The back-and-forth dance of inputting my PIN multiple times a day got so incredibly annoying that I disabled security on my smartwatch.

There’s a clear solution here. Fingerprint sensors have matured into reliable authentication options on smartphones, and it’s high time that they’re offered on smartwatches, too. It’s far more natural to place your opposite thumb on your smartwatch’s display, power button, or crown instead of delicately finger-tipping the display. Prints can be spoofed, but they’re more secure than a four-digit number. Swifter authentication also means faster payments; in this case, I’d be more inclined to use my smartwatch as intended.

Plus, thanks to the constant march of technology, it seems unlikely that smartwatches will have to traverse the same awkward teething period as smartphones. Sensors have seen smaller footprints, more efficient operation, and improved accuracy generation after generation.

Yes, fingerprint sensors have their limitations

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

I have little doubt that some people will call me lazy and remark that the current systems are just fine or that they’d rather see advancements in other facets of smartwatch technology. I agree with the latter, but why should we settle?

To play devil’s advocate, there are likely several reasons why we haven’t yet seen smartwatch fingerprint sensors just yet. Despite these readers shrinking over time, the size of the modules may still be an issue. They’re designed with smartphones in mind, devices that offer far more internal room than a smartwatch. Wearable makers would need to facilitate their inclusion somehow, whether shaving down other core components or increasing the size of watches. Neither solution is particularly attractive.

Sure, fingerprint sensors have matured on smartphones, but are they ready for smartwatches?

Despite their advantages, smartwatch fingerprint sensors may not be a massive selling point for most users. Even though PINs and passwords have their issues, they arguably work. Most people won’t need to unlock their watches as often as they do their smartphones.

Of course, when any additional component is introduced, the battery will be required to power it. Despite the efficiency gains we’ve seen with the latest Wear OS release, smartwatch batteries continue to fight for their lives. Two days between charges is just about possible with the Pixel Watch 3. A fingerprint sensor would undoubtedly drop this figure once again.

Smartwatch authentication sucks. When will it improve?

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

A man pressed the digital crown of his Google Pixel Watch 3.

Despite these issues, I still believe that smartwatch fingerprint sensors have a place on modern devices. I dream of the day when smartwatches are as easy to unlock as smartphones. Perhaps in the future, a device will automatically unlock when it senses my biosignals and subdermal data (man, LG’s crazy Hand ID was ahead of its time). Until then, I’ll have to settle for what we have.

A smartwatch fingerprint sensor is just one of many potential solutions, though. My colleague Rita wrote in a 2023 feature arguing that Pixel Watch Unlock should work in both directions, keeping Pixel Watches unlocked when they’re near their partnered phone. I wholeheartedly agree. This would be a brilliant addition to forthcoming Wear OS smartwatches and Android phones and would go some way to alleviating my PIN pain.

All in all, I’m disappointed that 2024 passed without a single smartwatch testing these waters. There are remedies for the awkwardness of smartwatch authentication, and I’m hopeful that manufacturers will implement them in the year ahead.