Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Wearables
  3. Mobile
  4. News

Have a Pixel Watch? You need to stop using one of its most important features

Add as a preferred source on Google

The Pixel Watch is a relatively solid smartwatch, albeit a little pricey. Still, several user reports are claiming that there’s a major issue with one of its most important features: the alarm.

According to several posts by Pixel Watch owners on the subreddit r/PixelWatch, the alarm app is malfunctioning in several different ways — ranging from alarms going off at unscheduled times to the alarm not sounding at all.

The Google Pixel Watch's Pilot Bold watch face.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

For obvious reasons, an issue like this is a pretty big deal since missing your alarm can be problematic for all sorts of reasons, and it’s not helpful to have alarms randomly going off when they’re not scheduled. What’s more, many of the posts and comments are reporting that these issues aren’t one-off problems, but reoccurring bugs that have affected their Pixel Watch multiple times.

Recommended Videos

Currently, there’s no official word from Google addressing the issue or giving a timeline for a potential fix. There also doesn’t seem to be any unofficial fixes being shared either. The best advice for anyone having problems with their alarm app would be to restart their device. However, there’s not much to suggest that a quick restart will totally fix the problem.

It doesn’t seem like all Pixel Watches are affected, but as mentioned above, those who have experienced a problem with their alarm app seem to be experiencing issues on multiple occasions. If you’re a Pixel Watch owner, it might be a good idea to stop using it as your primary alarm until the issue is addressed and resolved since the watch may be sounding off late or not at all.

If you’re waiting on the fix, make sure to have auto-updates turned on for your Pixel Watch so that you can get the patch as soon as it’s pushed — that is, assuming an update is coming at all. Since the Pixel Watch is so new (not to mention Google’s first smartwatch), issues like this aren’t totally surprising. Hopefully, the alarm issue is fixed soon. Google sometimes lets issues with its hardware go unaddressed for extended periods of time, but because the Pixel Watch is still in its infancy, we have our fingers crossed this is something that’s tackled sooner rather than later.

Peter Hunt Szpytek
A podcast host and journalist, Peter covers mobile news with Digital Trends and gaming news, reviews, and guides for sites…
Fitbit and Pixel Watch can now recognize more than 100 activities automatically
Google is expanding automatic activity detection from 10 exercises to more than 100.
Body Part, Knee, Person

We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.

Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.

Read more
Samsung’s Galaxy Fit 4 surfaces in new leak showing a familiar design
Videos obtained by Android Authority show Samsung's next budget fitness tracker in three colors, with a design that looks largely unchanged from the Galaxy Fit 3.
Lock screen of Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 fitness band.

Samsung's next budget fitness tracker may look a lot like its predecessor. Although the company has yet to share any details about the device, Android Authority has obtained videos showing the Galaxy Fit 4 in three colors, offering a closer look at a wearable that appears to retain the same basic design as the Galaxy Fit 3.

Samsung may be playing it safe with its next fitness band

Read more
Your AirPods can now double as a retro gaming gun, and you can try it for free
Aim by turning an earbud, shoot with a tap.
Adult, Male, Man

Few things feel as satisfying as blasting pixelated ducks. However, I never imagined doing it with an earbud. Then again, gaming accessories have taken stranger forms.

A developer who posts as Dividivan on X turned one AirPod into a miniature, gun-like controller you can point and tap, but it only works with a Mac. The side project became BipBop, a free website that lets you use your AirPods as a controller for 30 throwback minigames.

Read more