Now in its third year, the Pixel Watch experience remains quite consistent in 2024. Compared to Pixel phones, it’s harder to distinguish each generation’s hardware, while the software has changed even less.
I still enjoy the bulbous design of the Pixel Watch, and wouldn’t want that core element to change in the near term. A natural way to progress the design would be making the screen ever larger, while a bolder idea is getting rid of the crown for a virtual dial or some sort of touch-sensitive side surface.
Similarly, I have no qualms about the current Wear OS interface and suite of apps. Google Assistant is still in use, and I feel like Gemini is due to replace it. What remains to be seen is how capable it will be on the wrist, with Gemini Extensions making for a powerful experience and Live taking the voice experience a step further.
Pixel Watch Feature Drops
Feature Drops usually bring a handful of new features for the Pixel Watch in the form of app updates. Pixel Buds Pro Audio Switching added support for the Pixel Watch in January, while March was focused on bringing Pixel Watch 2 features to the original wearable. This included the Fitbit Relax app, Auto Workout Mode (start/stop), Pace Training, and Heart Zone Training, with public transit directions in Google Maps for Wear OS also going official.
In-between the Feature Drops, April’s patch introduced a Vibration watch to tell the time with haptics. The Pixel Watch 2 in June gained Car Crash Detection, while both generations were updated with better detection for bicycle-related drops in Fall Detection. There’s also the Google Home Favorites Tile, device complications, and expanded on-wrist controls, as well as PayPal support in Google Wallet.
October was a smaller update with the Individual contacts Tile and ability to send Gmail emoji reactions on your wrist. Afterwards, we got the “fully charged” notification and new charging screen on older watches. December was a little bit more substantial:
- Nest Cam and Doorbell live streams on the Pixel Watch 2
- Free Cardio Load and Target Load on all Pixel Watches and modern Fitbit trackers/watches
Wear OS 5
The Pixel Watch 3 debuted Wear OS 5, with the primary addition being grid app launcher that is so much more efficient to navigate. You also get a media output switcher when adjusting volume to pick other Bluetooth devices.
Google started rolling Wear OS 5, as well as Recorder, to original devices in late September, but had to pull it due to a soft brick that some experienced. Devices could be recovered fairly easily, while not all users faced the issue.
The update rolled back out in November, with Google also announcing that the next one isn’t coming until March 2025 in a departure from the monthly cadence. It’s possible that the next update will be Wear OS 5.1 based on Android 15 with passkey and watch speaker playback support. It remains to be seen if Pixel Watch 3 will support the latter, but it certainly has battery life to spare. Ultimately, this gap is fine as most new features are delivered through app updates, but it’s certainly unexpected.
Pixel Watch 3
With this year’s wearable, we finally got the bigger size that people have wanted. The 45mm model is for those that found 41mm too small, while the battery life is meaningfully better and can easily get you around two days of usage (with some management). Notably, Google undersold the difference (420 vs. 307 mAh) and said both models get 24 hours with AOD.
Meanwhile, the 41mm model got a slightly bigger screen (in the same body) that as a daily user is noticeable on watch faces. The screens also benefit from 1-60Hz refresh rate and 1-2000 nits brightness.
On the software front, the Pixel Watch 3 introduced:
- Auto Bedtime Mode
- Updated Daily Readiness
- Cardio and Target Load
- Workout Builder for custom runs + form analysis
- Loss of Pulse Detection
- Google Home TV remote control and Tile, Nest Cam/Doorbell streams with replies
- Pixel Recorder app with Tile
- Pixel Camera update with Viewfinder redesign and launch shortcut on watch face
- Call Assist in Pixel Phone app
In terms of new bands, we just got the Performance Loop just before Thanksgiving without much fanfare.
Fitbit
After getting a big app revamp the year before, Fitbit spent 2024 modernizing the stats pages: Sleep, Heart Rate, Stress management score, Mood, Mindfulness, and Weight. There was also a tablet redesign and Material You settings page.
Google this year made an updated Daily Readiness Score free without needing a Fitbit Premium subscription on older devices, with the same thing happening for Cardio and Target Load at year’s end.
With the Pixel Thermometer integration, we also get the ability to manually log body temperature, as well as Health Connect integration and the ability to share AFib data with a doctor. Fitbit Labs launched this year to test the Insights explorer and Sleep Labs.
Meanwhile, we got a bigger July update for the Sense 2, Versa 4, Charge 6, and Inspire 3, while there was the Fitbit Ace LTE launch for kids.
On the branding front, then stopgap “Fitbit by Google” was replaced by “Google Fitbit,” with fitbit.com deprecated and the Google Store taking over. Similarly, the web dashboard and Fitbit Pay went away.
Incredibly, we still don’t have a dark theme. Google is presumably waiting to fully modernize all the stats pages before making this move, but it’s sure taking a long time.
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