BERLIN: Until now, when navigating with a smartwatch that runs on Google's Wear OS operating system, you needed to have it constantly connected to your phone for the navigation to work.

But with the Wear OS 3 update, any watch with both a GPS receiver (which most have) and cellular data (which only some have) let you leave your watch at home when you're cycling or walking a new route.

These devices use the Maps app to calculate routes and guide you from A to B, even when you've left your mobile phone behind. That's good news for sports enthusiasts and anyone who doesn't want to keep checking their phone when in unfamiliar territory.

It's also good news for Android users, whose community of smartwatches have notoriously lagged behind the Apple Watch in terms of features in recent years.

Theoretically, your watch only need a WiFi module for the necessary internet access, but users of the self-sufficient Maps navigation who want to check it reliably any time and anywhere won't be able to rely on WiFi, but will need a smartwatch with cellular data.

You can find instructions on how to calculate routes on compatible Wear OS watches on Google's Wear OS support pages.

 - dpa