In summary
- Wear OS 6 rolling out now
- Only Pixel Watch 2 and 3 eligible
- Material 3 Expressive UI update
- Google Maps auto-launch feature
With the Pixel Watch 4 smartwatch hitting shops today, Google has pulled the trigger on its Wear OS 6 update for older Pixel watches – or some of them, at least.
Our own Chris Martin has been using the new Pixel Watch 4 for the past week, and appears to be enjoying his time with Google’s latest smartwatch, for the most part.
While we’re not quite ready to offer our final verdict on the watch just yet, we can give you a sneaky piece of advice right now: update your old Pixel Watch, and you might not even need to buy the new model.
Not everyone benefits
Google has announced that “All eligible Pixel Watch devices will receive WearOS 6 via the October 2025 software update beginning today”.
What’s notable, however, is that only the Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3 are listed here. There’s no sign of the original Pixel Watch, which arrived in 2022.
We had hoped that the original Pixel Watch might squeeze into contention for Wear OS 6, given that it was set to be supported until October 2025, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Chris Martin / Foundry
What does Watch OS 6 bring?
The new update applies Google’s big new Material 3 Expressive UI design, which recently rolled out to its phones in the wake of the Pixel 10 launch.
Pixel Watch 2 and 3 owners should notice larger buttons and more rounded fonts and icons. They’ll also gain dynamic colour theming based on your watch face, and updated tile templates and layouts.
Perhaps the biggest new feature is the addition of the Google Maps auto-launch feature. Start navigating on your phone, and it’ll automatically transfer over to your Pixel Watch.
You also gain the ability to add time to an active Safety Check.
Head to Settings > System > System updates to initiate the Wear OS 6 update on your Pixel Watch 2 or 3, if it isn’t downloading already.
