IssueTracker

Subject: Reporting an Unexpected Behaviour in the Pixel Watch/Pixel Watch Companion App

Dear Google Team,

I am writing to bring to your attention an unexpected behaviour I have encountered while developing a companion app for wear devices. Your assistance in addressing this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Versions

Google Pixel Watch App Version: 1.3.0.540210190

WearOS Version: 3.5

Paired Phone: Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite

Phone Operating System: Android 13

Background

When creating a notification on the phone and extending it to the wearable device, I encountered a specific use case scenario that requires additional functionality. I needed to add an action to the notification on the watch, enabling me to open the app on the wearable device itself.

I managed to achieve this through the following code snippet in Kotlin:

val wearIntent = Intent(context, CompanionAppStarterService::class.java)

val wearPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(
            context, 1, wearIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_IMMUTABLE)

val watchAction = NotificationCompat.Action(
            androidx.core.R.drawable.notification_icon_background,
            "Open Task Details on Watch", wearPendingIntent)
            
NotificationCompat.Builder(context,"1")
	.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher_background)
    .setContentTitle("Task Center Notification")
    .setContentText("New Notification")
    .setContentIntent(activityPendingIntent)
    .extend(NotificationCompat.WearableExtender()
	    .addAction(watchAction)
	).build()

Observed Behaviour

The notification is correctly built and extended to the watch but on tapping the notification action which is supposed to open the app on wear device, I observed that the phone vibrates.

I have conducted thorough testing to verify that the vibration is not triggered by the code I implemented. I even attempted creating a PendingIntent from both an Activity and a Broadcast rather than a Service, yet the vibration persisted. Intriguingly, this vibration phenomenon was absent when the phone was connected to a Samsung Galaxy Wear Device via the Galaxy Gear app.

Request

I kindly request clarification on the expected behavior when a watch action is tapped, especially in the scenario outlined above.

1. Is the Vibration of phone expected behaviour ?
2. Can you suggest me a workaround to disable these vibrations ?

Steps to Reproduce

Equipment required

1. Android 13 Device
2. Google Pixel Watch.

You can find the complete source code and applications for this scenario in the following repository: Github Repository

1. Build and install both the mobile application and the WearOS application on physical devices. (Please note that this bug specifically pertains to the Pixel Watch, so the wear app should be deployed to a Google Pixel Watch).

2. Within the mobile app, tap the "Send Notification" button to generate and send a notification to both devices.

3. On the Pixel Watch, tap the notification and select any of the four available actions.

4. Upon tapping an action on the watch, the paired phone will experience the unexpected vibration.

   Your attention and guidance on this matter are highly appreciated. Thank you for your support.

Best Regards,

Arpan Tyagi

Thank you for reporting this issue. For us to further investigate this issue, please provide the following additional information:

We would need bug reports from the phone side AND watch, please share the same.

Steps to capture bugreport:

===========================

Android Wear devices connected to Android devices

1. On you Android phone, following the instructions in this doc, under the section ‘Instructions on your companion phone or tablets (Android)’
2. Launch the ‘Android Wear’ app on your phone or tablet. Tap on the three vertical ellipsis on the top right hand corner of the screen and click on “Report Wearable Bug” to capture a bug report from the watch
3. On the watch, you will observe a notification card with the text “Bug report #X is being generated”. It can take up to 20 minutes for the bug report to be generated and transferred to your phone.
4. Once the bug report is done, the notification card on the watch changes to “Bug report #X captured” and you will receive a notification on the phone that reads “Wearable bug report finished. Tap to send." Tap on this notification and email the bug report to a pre populated email address

Instructions on your companion phone or tablets (Android)

1. On your Android device, go to Settings > About phone or About tablet.
2. At the bottom of the screen, touch 'Build number' seven times in quick succession. You’ll see a message saying you’re now in developer mode.
3. Press Back to go back to the main Settings screen.
4. Touch Developer options.
5. At the top of the screen, make sure 'Developer options' is set to ON.
6. Check the box next to USB debugging.
7. Check the box next to Bug report shortcut.
8. Reproduce the issue or error message on your phone or tablet. It’s important that your device logs at least one occurrence of the problem.
9. Immediately after seeing the issue, press and hold the power button until the power menu appears.
10. Select Take bug report, then select Report in the dialog that follows.
11. After a significant delay -- up to two minutes -- your phone or tablet will vibrate and display a notification saying ‘Bug report captured’. Touch the notification to open Gmail with the report attached.
12. After replying to this message, you can disable developer mode and bug reports by going to Settings > Developer Options and sliding the top toggle to OFF.

Please provide the requested information to proceed further. Unfortunately the issue will be closed within 7 days if there is no further update.

We have shared this with our product and engineering team and will update this issue with more information as it becomes available.

Could you please test this issue on the latest android build, If you're still experiencing it in the latest version, please file a new issue and add the relevant information along with a reference link to the earlier issue