Google is giving the Pixel Thermometer app some long-overdue attention

Google’s not a smartphone maker that’s afraid to experiment with some weird hardware — remember the Soli radar-based gesture control we got on the Pixel 4? That’s one practice it was certainly back into last year, when the company saw fit to give the Pixel 8 Pro a temperature sensor on the phone’s back. The whole thing was weird, feeling like a holdover from the bad old days of high pandemic, and what’s worse is that it didn’t even make very accurate measurements. Perhaps the future will prove a little kinder, as today we’re checking out some updates coming to the Pixel Thermometer app.

You’d be forgiven for assuming that Google had written off its temperature sensor experiment, as the company couldn’t even be bothered to mention it when launching the Pixel 9 Pro earlier this week. But over on Telegram, the unofficial Google News channel reports finding a couple useful and interesting changes in version 1.0.654975759 of Pixel Thermometer.

One handy tweak will start presenting you with a few measurement presets, configured for some of the most popular use cases you’re likely to have — and if none fit the bill, you can just hit the plus sign to begin a measurement without them.

We’re also getting a new look for the measurement screen itself, and these changes really seem pretty handy. The app will use your phone’s camera to help you make sure you’re pointing at the right spot, and a ring around the temperature readout will function as a distance guide, assisting you in getting the most accurate readings achievable.

Neither of those is huge, but both changes absolutely sound like steps in the right direction to us, and we’re really just surprised to see Google giving the feature this level of attention, especially now. Maybe we’ll even get the sensor’s return on the Pixel 10 next year? Time will tell.