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.
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.
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.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
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.