GoKawiilTL;DR Google’s new Health Guardian turns Pixel Watch health data into more useful insights, analyzing signals in the background.
Breathing Emergency detection can spot sustained drops in blood oxygen and potentially call emergency services.
Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance Trends track longer-term changes without direct blood pressure or glucose measurements, and will roll out to the Pixel Watch 3, Watch 4, Watch 5, and compatible Fitbit devices this fall.
Smartwatches already know an almost ridiculous amount about our health — they know when we go to bed, how much we move, and how hard our heart is working during a run. The problem is that much of this information eventually becomes another graph buried inside the Health app. Google thinks your Pixel Watch should be able to do something more useful with it.
That’s the thinking behind Health Guardian, a collection of new health features arriving this fall. Rather than waiting for you to dig through individual readings, it will analyze signals collected in the background and flag changes that may actually be worth paying attention to.
The most immediate of those is Breathing Emergency detection. Your Pixel Watch can combine information from its PPG sensor, accelerometer, barometer, and other sensors to recognize a sustained drop in blood oxygen levels. If the situation appears serious, it can even contact emergency services on your behalf.
That could matter if something goes wrong while you’re asleep, exercising alone, or simply unable to reach your phone. Your watch could recognize the problem as it’s happening and potentially call for help. For now, the feature will be limited to select European countries, with Google planning to expand it to more regions later.
Emergencies are only one part of what Google is trying to tackle. Plenty of changes in our bodies happen gradually, without an obvious moment when something suddenly feels different. That’s where Health Guardian’s longer-term tracking comes in.
Take Blood Pressure Trends, which is coming to the Pixel Watch 3, Watch 4, and Watch 5, as well as compatible Fitbit devices, this fall. Blood pressure isn’t something most people can feel changing throughout an ordinary day. You could have a stressful month at work, sleep poorly for a couple of weeks, or change your exercise routine without knowing whether any of it is affecting your cardiovascular health.
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