Samsung Watch lets you control your TV with air gestures (APK teardown)

Kaitlyn Cimino/Android Authority
long story short
- Samsung seems to be developing a “metric mode” feature for Wear OS.
- This feature will allow you to control your TV through your smartwatch using specific air gestures.
- You can activate analog mode by shaking the watch hands.
Do you keep losing your TV remote, or are you tired of having to get out of bed because it’s just out of reach? You may not have to worry about these issues in the near future. Samsung seems to be working on letting you control your TV with a Galaxy smartwatch.
one APK teardown Helps predict future features that may appear on the service based on ongoing coding. However, such predicted functionality may not be publicly released.
In the SmartThings app on Wear OS (version 1.3.12.9), we noticed some code strings referencing a feature called “metric mode.” This is likely to be a feature unique to Galaxy smartwatches.
Program code
Pointer Mode
Pointer mode may not be supported in all apps
To use Pointer mode, disable all gesture controls.
You can use gesture while on this screen
Low
High
Mid
You can activate the Pointer mode by shaking your watch hand
To use Pointer mode, disable Universal Gesture.
View Tutorial
You don't have any devices that support Pointer mode.
Activate Pointer mode with shake gesture
Pinch to select
Make a fist to go back
Make a fist twice to go Home
Move your wrists back and forth to play/pause
Rotate bezel to scroll up or down on your TV
Use your wrist to control the cursor's movement
Based on the string above, it appears Pointer Mode will use gesture controls such as wrist and finger movements. This sounds a bit reminiscent of the gesture controls used on the Vision Pro and Apple Watch. For example, you can start indicator mode via handshake. Pinch is how you select a channel, clenching your fist will take you back to the channel you were on, and clenching it twice will take you back to the home page.
Watch the video below for a demonstration of how pointer mode works with this information.
Pointer mode is slightly different from the Wiimote-like feature in the SmartThings mobile app launching later this year. This feature provides a touchpad in the mobile app that allows you to control the cursor on the TV. It also allows you to point your smartphone at the TV for cursor control. Pointer mode will not have a trackpad interface.