I used the Pixel 9 Pro XL in the shower — does the screen work when wet as claimed?

The Pixel 9 Pro XL came out swinging with an impressive set of features that threaten Samsung and Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market.

From its Super Res Zoom feature that allowed me to see strangers more than 5,000 feet away to its record-breaking battery life, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the best Android phone I’ve ever tested. (And this is coming from someone who daily drives the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the latest and greatest phone Samsung has to offer.)

The Pixel 9 Pro XL couldn’t get any better — until I spotted some chit-chat about a new display feature across the Pixel 9 series.

Called “Adaptive Touch,” Google says that it’s a touch sensitivity feature that “will automatically adjust to your environment, activities, and screen protector.” The Pixel 9 series, by the way, has a similar touch sensitivity feature called Screen Protector Mode, but it’s not new. The novel Adaptive Touch tool is designed to auto-adjust to various conditions, but Screen Protector Mode kicks the sensitivity up a notch to compensate for users’ screen protectors.

Google never explicitly said that Adaptive Touch supports wet fingers, but some tech outlets put it to the test and got optimistic results. “The Pixel 9 works much better with wet fingers than the Pixel 8 Pro,” Android Authority said. “The Pixel 9 handles wet fingers like a champ, offering a smooth scrolling experience even with water standing on the screen,” Chrome Unboxed said.

I’m skeptical, so I decided to test this Adaptive Touch feature myself with the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Pixel 9 Pro XL: How does it fare in the shower?

No, I didn’t totally submerge the Pixel 9 Pro XL in water or anything wild like that, but I did recreate a scenario I often find myself in: interacting with my device, wet fingers and all, while blasting music in the shower.

Yes, I’m one of those people who brings their phones into the bathroom to play music for a shower soirée. (Hey, if I’m going to slip on soap, at least I’ll do it to a good beat.)

I accessed Adaptive Touch by navigating to Settings > Display > Touch Sensitivity. As it turned out, Adaptive Touch is toggled on by default for Pixel 9 devices.

So the question is, after drenching my fingers in water, and getting some droplets on the screen, how did the Pixel 9 Pro XL fare in the shower? Here are my ratings:

Tapping on apps – Good. The Pixel 9 Pro XL was responsive to all the apps I tapped on via the home screen.

Swiping (up and down) – Terrible. Exiting apps require an upward swipe, but I needed to employ this gesture several times before the screen responded.

Swiping (left and right) – Good. The Pixel 9 Pro XL was responsive as I swiped through my collection of apps.

Scrolling – Terrible. I experienced some glitches and phantom touches.

Fingerprint unlock – Good. No issues while using biometric authentication to unlock the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

To sum it up, I was able to tap on apps and other UI elements without any issues. For example, I was able to skip to the next track on my playlists seamlessly. Swiping through my apps on the home screen was a smooth experience, too.

However, when it comes to scrolling through long-form content, I experienced “screen jumping” in which I’d try to scroll down to the bottom of the article, but it’d jump back up to the top. Swiping upward to escape apps was the most frustrating; I sometimes found myself repeatedly swiping up to 10 times before I finally got a response.

Although fingerprint unlock worked well with my wet fingers, as ExtremeTech (Mashable’s sister site) pointed out, the Pixel 9 series’ new ultrasonic in-display sensor likely played a bigger role in my positive experience with it.

Without getting too technical, the ultrasonic sensor, an upgrade from the Pixel 8 series’ optical sensor, is designed to detect your fingerprints even while wet. My Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also has an ultrasonic in-display sensor — and it, too, can detect my fingerprints while they’re wet.

While the Pixel 9 Pro XL fares well in the shower for some gestures, I wouldn’t say that it excels in supporting wet fingers. However, if you ever get caught in the rain, or you just came out of a dip in the pool (or you, like me, enjoy jamming out in the shower), the Pixel 9 Pro XL can handle simple taps without malfunctioning.

The OnePlus Ace 2 Pro famously has a “Rain Water Touch” feature that is designed to handle pesky water droplets on a display, so perhaps it’s about time that Google, Samsung, and Apple seriously considers wet-finger support.

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