Google rolling out Wear OS 5 to original Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2

Following the launch of the Pixel Watch 3 earlier this month, Wear OS 5 is now rolling out to the original Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 with the September 2024 security patch.

After skipping the usual first Monday of the month, the big Wear OS 5 update is rolling out to the first two Pixel Watch generations.

Based on Android 14, you also get the September 5, 2024 security patch level:

• Google Pixel Watch 1: AW2A.240903.005.A2
• Google Pixel Watch 2: AW2A.240903.005.A1

The rollout will continue over the next week in phases depending on carrier and device. Users will receive a notification on their watch once the OTA becomes available for their device. We encourage you to update to receive the latest software.

The updated OS brings “new features, numerous bug fixes, and performance updates.” This includes a media output switcher that “lets users choose which device should play media and show information about the currently-playing media content,” and the Privacy dashboard in Settings > Apps & notifications identifying access to permissions like location and microphone. Similarly, apps can take advantage of a screenshot detection API.

Watch Face Format version 2 adds preset configurations called Flavors, weather conditions, a heart rate system data source, and two new complication types:

• Goal progress: Useful when users can exceed a goal such as step count
• Weighted elements: Useful for showing discrete subsets of data

You also get more detailed running metrics courtesy of Health Services:

• Ground contact time: The amount of time, during a single step, that a runner’s foot is in contact with the ground.
• Stride length: The distance covered by a single step.
• Vertical oscillation: The distance that a user’s center of mass moves up and down with each step.
• Vertical ratio: Vertical oscillation divided by stride length.

Starting in Wear OS 5, Health Services supports debounced goals to help improve the user experience for people who want to maintain a specific threshold or range—such as heart rate—throughout their workout.

Meanwhile, application updates through the Play Store will deliver the new “grid-view app launcher, improved Camera controls, and the Pixel Recorder functionality.”

After the Wear OS update finishes, open the Play Store and scroll to “Manage apps” at the bottom to install everything.

Tapping the “Your watch is up to date” screen (Settings > System > System updates) multiple times initiates the download this afternoon. To speed up the process, open Connectivity preferences and disable Bluetooth to force Wi-Fi. The OTA images can be found here.

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