Key Takeaways
- Ford launched a new FordPass app for Wear OS smartwatches, offering remote commands, EV battery status, and parking location.
- The app requires setting up a PIN or pattern unlock on the smartwatch and interacting with the FordPass mobile app.
- Ford may have underestimated the potential of Android smartwatches, but the app launch is a positive step for Wear OS users.
It’s been a long minute (5.2 million minutes, actually), but Ford has finally remembered Wear OS exists. The automaker quietly launched a new FordPass app for Wear OS smartwatches back in November (via 9to5Google).
Related
Wear OS 5: Everything to know about the wearable operating system
What to expect with the Pixel Watch 3’s OS
FordPass allows Wear OS users to send remote commands to their Ford vehicles, access information like EV battery status, and even see where their car is parked. The FordPass app launched for both Apple Watch and Android watches back in 2015. Support and updates continued for the Apple Watch, but Ford dropped support for Android watches when Android Wear became Wear OS. And then Ford just kind of…forgot.
Here’s what your new FordPass Wear OS app can do
Source: 9to5Google
The new Wear OS FordPass app brings some features that Ford owners who use Android have been missing out on. These include:
- Remote commands: You can lock and unlock the vehicle, and remote start the engine (for applicable vehicles).
- EV battery status: You can view the current charge level and range estimate for Ford’s electric vehicles.
- Parking location: Find your parked car without having to pull your phone out of your pocket.
These are basically the same functions you will find in the FordPass mobile app, but resized for the wrist.
There are a few requirements for using the new app. For starters, you need to set up a PIN or pattern unlock on your smartwatch. This is a mandatory layer of security to prevent unauthorized access. Additionally, the app needs to interact with the FordPass mobile app from time to time to maintain its connection, otherwise it will log you out.
What took so long?
Ford quietly launched the app back in November, with no fanfare or announcements. Ford may not have had much confidence in Android smartwatches, or at least their place in the North American market, and decided to concentrate on the Apple Watch. Or perhaps Ford decided the investment wasn’t worth it when Google built the new Wear OS platform. Ford isn’t saying.
Nevertheless, this is a good step for Ford, especially as the company expands its EV offerings. It’s also a good step for Wear OS, and shows how popular the Android smartwatch ecosystem is becoming, so much so that Ford remembered to build a Wear OS app. Better late than never.
