Google is making Fast Pair low battery notifications for pens

Since its launch, Fast Pair has branched out from Bluetooth headphones and into smartwatches and Matter smart home devices. The next category of Fast Pair devices appears to be the stylus, ahead of the Pixel Tablet.

About APK Insight: In this APK Insight post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of the app that Google has uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APK, in the case of Android apps), we can see different lines of code in that hint about possible future features. Note that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of them may be incomplete. We’ll try to give those closer to completion a chance to show you what they’ll look like if they ship. With that in mind, read on.

The Pixel Tablet will support USI styluses, and just this week Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2 included some details about stylus charging notifications.

Google Play Services (for Wear OS, version 23.02.13) has now been updated with the “fast_pair_stylus” string triple for low battery notifications, similar to what you’d get with Bluetooth headphones.

Battery low u2022 Consider charging soon

Low battery u2022 Charge soon

Battery very low u2022 Charge now

It makes sense for Google to use the familiar Fast Pair battery notifications for the pen category.

Meanwhile, an update to the Settings Services app that powers the Pixel’s Battery widget added a generic “bt_stylus” icon this week. Nothing more definitive yet, but the Pixel Tablet’s current stylus percentage appearing in the Battery widget makes sense.

Google is hoping to make a first-party Pixel pen, stylus, or stylus for its upcoming tablet to offer a good end-to-end experience. It remains to be seen how the hypothetical stylus will charge. A USB-C port on a pen would be very minor, so wireless is the way to go.

From what we’ve seen of the Pixel Tablet so far, there’s no clear charging surface on the side edges like the iPad Pro. Using the screws on the back of the charging speaker mount would be physically awkward, causing it to tilt when plugged in, while one, purely speculative, could be that the thicker screen bezel hides the charger.