The Pixel Watch is a hot mess

Let’s get the good news out of the way first: The Google Pixel Watch is a beautiful piece of wearable technology.

The round screen and domed glass look elegant without being ostentatious. The proprietary watch bands are comfortable to wear and easy to interchange. And combined with the new Pixel 7 phones, Google has come upon a design language that feels distinct and just a little bit playful.

The Pixel Watch’s problems are entirely in the software. At $350—or $400 with cellular connectivity—I’d expect Google’s smartwatch to have a level of refinement on par with the Apple Watch. Based on my experience over the past week, it’s not even close.

Fitbit integration is clunky

In a break from most other Wear OS watches, the Pixel Watch hands over fitness tracking duties to Fitbit, which Google acquired last year. If you try to install and use Google Fit on the Pixel Watch, you get an error message.

But while Fitbit ostensibly allows for more comprehensive fitness tracking features, the integration feels sloppy. Setting it up requires a separate Fitbit account, and certain existing Fitbit features, such as automatic workout detection and swim tracking, aren’t available. Fitbit’s interface also just clashes with Google’s simpler design language and requires its own subscription to unlock advanced insights. It almost feels like bloatware rather than a centerpiece of the Pixel Watch experience.

Keep in mind that to appease European regulators, Google agreed to a 10-year ban on using Fitbit’s data for targeted ads, and also committed to giving users clear choices on whether to share Fitbit data with other Google services. I get the impression that all this regulatory burden has taken a toll on the Pixel Watch.

Sleep tracking is basically broken

Although Google made a big to-do about the Pixel Watch’s sleep-tracking chops at a press event last week, it’s been inadequate in my experience, taking hours to update after wake-up and routinely missing chunks of time in which I’m 99% certain I was fast asleep. Fitbit’s app provides no way to edit the sensitivity of its sleep tracking, and I’ve run into issues getting manual sleep logs to work.

Phone and watch have communication issues

In Google’s Clock app for Android, you can schedule a Bedtime mode that automatically disables the always-on display and activates Do Not Disturb, but this doesn’t sync over to the Pixel Watch. Instead, the watch has its own separate Bedtime mode, which you can only activate manually.

Likewise, you can enable Do Not Disturb mode on the Pixel Watch, but this doesn’t sync over to your Android phone. Each device has its own Do Not Disturb mode that you must manage separately. The two devices even have distinct alarm systems, so if you set an alarm on the phone, it won’t buzz on the watch. If Google wants to build a successful ecosystem of Pixel devices, it needs to get these basics down.

Managing Pixel Watch apps is a pain

Here’s how to remove an app from your Pixel Watch without also uninstalling it from your phone:

Click the side button.
Scroll down and select “Play Store.”
Scroll to the bottom and select “Manage apps.”
Scroll until you find the app you want to remove, then tap on it.
Tap the “Uninstall” button.

Why can’t you just long-press an app from inside the regular app menu, like on the Apple Watch and every modern smartphone? Why doesn’t the Pixel Watch smartphone app have a simple menu for adding and offloading apps? Managing apps on a smartwatch just shouldn’t be this cumbersome.

The third-party app scene feels lifeless

One of Wear OS’s best features is called “Tiles,” which are essentially extra home screen pages you can access with a swipe. On the Pixel Watch, I’ve got Tiles for my Google Keep lists, my day’s agenda, quick timers, the weather, and even Alexa voice commands.

It’s a great idea—one that Apple sadly discontinued on the Apple Watch years ago—but there just aren’t a lot of third-party apps that take advantage. The same is true with WearOS Complications, which let you add info or shortcuts directly to your watch face.