If you have a Google Pixel smartphone and you want a smartwatch, it sort of only makes sense that you go for a Pixel Watch. I personally don’t think they’re the best Android smartwatches out there, but the synergy is best when they’re paired with one another.
If you happen to have a Google Pixel Watch 1 or Pixel Watch 2, you’ve now unlocked the pretty nice perk of updating to Wear OS 5. The only problem is, that the ability to do that has been suspended since it seems that the update has a few lines of code in the wrong places and it will essentially soft-brick your watch. That’s no fun.
The Wear OS 5 Update For Older Pixel Watches Is Hitting Some Users With A Black Screen
If you have a Google Pixel Watch 1 or a Pixel Watch 2, you must have been really excited when you heard that the Wear OS 5 update was finally rolling out. There are very few smartwatches with the newest version of the operating system, so being a part of that club is certainly an exciting thing.
However, instead of the update bringing new features to users’ wrists, it brought a whole lot of issues instead. Pixel Watch users were able to share how after the update, their watches ended up with a black screen that couldn’t be fixed no matter how hard they tried to get rid of it. Essentially, installing the Wear OS 5 update bricked these Pixel Watches, which is far from a minor annoyance.
The worst part about this is that a lot of people rely on their smartwatches on a daily basis, so suddenly being faced with a watch that can’t do anything but look pretty on your wrist is bound to make some people flare up. Google’s focus has always been the software but it doesn’t have the best track record with rollouts.
The Only Real Fix Seems To Be A Factory Reset
There’s good news and bad news; which do you want first? Well, the good news is that there’s a fix for this issue so your Pixel Watch won’t end up useless and that’s a reason enough to be happy.
The bad news is that the fix in question is a factory reset, which is probably the worst kind of fix available. It means you can save your watch but you’re going to lose all of your personal data and settings on it. That sucks.
Google Is Aware Of The Issue And Had Paused Its Wear OS 5 Rollout
Google knows all about the issue with Wear OS 5 and its older Pixel Watch models, which is a good thing. It means that they’re actively working on fixing the problem and getting an update that won’t brick your watch in its place.
However, it should be a major concern to the company as its recent smartphone launch was plagued with issues (especially for the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL) and now the software side of things isn’t going smoothly either. I think Google might need to get its quality assurance department to work overtime.
