GoKawiil
Tech News
Reddit users report that Pixel Watch 2, 3, 4 and 5 devices are suffering sudden, severe battery drain, with runtimes dropping from 24-48 hours to under 12 hours. Some users report losing up to 20% charge every four hours even with Always-on Display disabled and background activity minimized. Google has not yet publicly acknowledged the problem.
Google announced three new features coming to the Fitbit Air, released in May, alongside its unveiling of the new Fitbit Edge. The features fall under Health Guardian, a background health-monitoring tool in the Google Health app, with Premium subscribers ($10/month or $100/year) gaining access to insulin resistance estimates, blood pressure trends and sleep breathing quality trends. Health Guardian will also reach the new Fitbit Edge, though Google has not set a release date.
Google is discontinuing Safety Signal, the LTE-based safety tool on the Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3, with access ending December 12. Users will get email and push notifications giving 30 days' notice before their access is cut off. Features like emergency SOS, fall detection and emergency contact calls will still work via WiFi, Bluetooth pairing to a phone, or an active cellular plan.
Google said in a community post that it is discontinuing free cellular access to Safety Signal features—Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Safety Check—on the LTE versions of the Pixel Watch 2 and 3. The free access, previously bundled with a Google Health Premium subscription, ends after December 12th, with affected users given a 30-day transition window starting when they receive an email notice.
Code strings found in the latest Pixel Watch app update (version 5.1.0.990450614) indicate Google is deprecating Safety Signal, a Health Premium feature that provides cellular connectivity to the Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3 LTE when paired phones are out of range or the watch lacks its own carrier plan. The service currently supports emergency contact calls, Safety Check, Emergency Sharing, Emergency SOS and Fall Detection in the US, Canada, the UK and Germany. Google has not announced a shutdown date or a replacement.
Google has activated Health Guardian on the Pixel Watch 3, Watch 4, and the new Watch 5, adding blood pressure trend detection, insulin resistance trends, and sleep breathing quality analysis. These join the Breathing Emergency detection feature already available on the Watch 4 and 5 in limited European markets. The features are free for Pixel Watch owners, while Fitbit Ace users must pay to access them.