Pixel Watch 1 & 2: Google stops rollout of Wear OS 5

Google has temporarily stopped distributing the latest Wear OS 5 updates for its Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 smartwatches. The update, which was supposed to bring numerous improvements and new features, led to significant problems for some users, including black screens and so-called soft bricks, as 9to5Google reports. The update was only rolled out last week.

However, after installing Wear OS 5, several users reported display problems. In particular, on some devices the screen remained black with only a small Bluetooth icon visible. These issues occurred on both the first Pixel Watch and the Pixel Watch 2. Google then stopped rolling out the update to investigate and fix the cause of the error.

Soft brick and possible solutions

The affected devices are probably not completely unusable, but rather suffer a so-called soft brick. This means that although the smartwatches will no longer function normally, they can be restored to factory settings. This will undo the faulty update.

Wear OS 5 is supposed to bring numerous improvements to the older Pixel watches, including a streamlined user interface and expanded health features. It is not yet known when Google will release a new version of the update. The new Pixel Watch 3, meanwhile, ships directly with Wear OS 5.