This is why your WearOS watch is nagging you to wash your hands
The COVID-19 spread has raised public awareness on the importance of washing our hands. With the latest software update your Wear OS watch can send you regular reminders to make sure you do so.
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Apart from social-isolation, one of the best ways to make sure you don’t catch the COVID-19 coronavirus is to wash your hands often. This is according to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), which recommends to use soap and water for at least 20 seconds, particularly after you’ve been in a public place.
Google wants to make this job easier for us with the latest v5.4.0 update for the Google Clock app on Wear OS. This will now send out periodic reminders to clean your hands. You will get a notification on your smartwatch when it’s time to pick up the soap.
There is also a shortcut to start the countdown. The timer actually goes to 40 seconds, twice the CDC recommendation. Better safe than sorry, as they say. You also get an additional 3 seconds once you click “open” to give you time to start the faucet. Once the time is up, the watch says it will notify you again in 3 hours. Nice and simple.
Those that are more studious about washing their hands and don’t want to be nagged will be happy to know there’s a way to switch off the notifications. This can be done by long-pressing the notification and switching off its channel.
Washing hands has always been important, it’s just that we have all been reminded of that with the current pandemic. It would be good if Google leaves the ability to enable these notifications once the COVID-19 outbreak is a thing of the past.
Fitbit has recently added a bunch of features to help protect users from the coronavirus. There’s also a Fitbit smartwatch app that helps stop you touching your face. Not to be left behind, an Apple Watch app can be downloaded to remind you periodically to clean your hands.
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