A list of the apps that will support the Google Pixel 4’s “Motion Sense” gesture controls has been discovered in the phone’s pre-release software, and all but one of them are audio-focused apps, 9to5Google reports. The list was discovered within the unreleased phone’s Motion Sense app, and includes nine pieces of software in total; Amazon Music, Deezer, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Spotify Stations, YouTube Music, and YouTube.
While a separate leak suggested that the phone’s gesture controls will be able to check the phone’s lock screen and silence calls, this list implies that the phone’s app-specific gestures could be focused mainly on music playback. Both Google’s original announcement of the feature, as well as a leaked promo video, showed gestures being used to skip forwards and backwards through tracks.
The functionality could be available in 38 countries
Along with the list of apps, 9to5Google also reports that Google expects gesture controls to be available in 38 countries. Although the list includes most major territories including the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany, there are a couple of odd omissions, namely Japan, Mexico, India, Australia and New Zealand. Motion Sense relies on Google’s Project Soli tech, which the company needs permission to use in each country because of its reliance on radar technology.
9to5Google notes that both the list of apps and list of countries may not be final since they’ve come from a device running pre-release software. It also speculates that the list of apps could just be the ones that Google officially sanctions, while allowing others to also add their own support for the hardware’s features. We won’t know for sure until the phone is officially released, which amazingly (given the amount of leaks) is still over a month away.