We asked, you told us: You're split over locking your smartwatch

It seems like almost every person locks their smartphone, be it with a PIN code or biometric authentication. As for smartwatches, though? We wondered whether Android Authority readers locked their watches, so we posted a poll to find out.

Well, a few days have passed since the poll’s publication on November 17. So how did readers vote? You can check out the results below.

Do you lock your smartwatch?

Results

Almost 1,100 votes were cast in this poll, and it turns out that the results are almost evenly split. 51% of respondents said they didn’t lock their smartwatch, winning by a very small margin over the “yes” camp.

Most of the people who said they locked their smartwatch noted that they did so for mobile payment functionality. Of course, there are other reasons to lock your wearable, such as to protect your private data and in case it gets stolen. But these reasons seemingly pale in comparison to mobile payments.

Meanwhile, 49% of surveyed readers said they didn’t lock their smartwatches. At least one reader noted that unlocking their watch every time they wanted to use it would be annoying.

Comments

• Asher: I have it locked because of mobile payments. Only requires me to unlock when I take it off my wrist to charge
• duckofdeath: There isn’t an option if you want to enable contactless payments. Locked, but only required authentication once a day.
• meh…: I like having Samsung Pay usable, so it’s required.
• Bonedatt: My watch is usually unlocked, but it requires a PIN prior to using Samsung pay for payments.
• Kent Seaton: My not-so-smart watch doesn’t support NFC. It shows if I have a message, or an incoming call, but no details about it. Also it doesn’t unlock my phone… so I see no reason to lock it other than keeping someone from changing the settings. Also, locking the watch can be unlocked easily with a factory reset so locking it as a theft deterrent is moot.
• Konrad Uroda-Darłak: Automatic lock when removed from the hand :)
• bradavon: No. It would be so annoying having to unlock it to use my watch. All they’d get of any worth is some notifications. Used to hate to use Samsung Pay on my watch I’d have to enter a fiddly pin every time. Besides when you’ve likely also got a phone on you and your is quite literally strapped to your arm few thiefs would try.