Google has acknowledged "a battery drain issue" affecting "a small number of Pixel Watch users" in a reply on Reddit, as reported by Android Authority and Gadgets & Wearables. One of those reports says Google said it is working on a fix. No release date has been given.
What was said, and where
One report attributes the statement to Google's Pixel Community account on Reddit. The other says Google replied in the Reddit threads where owners first posted, and links the reply, which we could not open because of a login wall. The wording here comes from the two outlets' reports, and we quote only the two fragments above.
Which watches
The first report, from Oct. 28, says owners' Reddit posts mention the Pixel Watch 2, 3, 4 and 5. The second report says owner reports mention all generations of the watch. Both describe battery life falling sharply, and the Oct. 28 report adds that some owners saw the drop even while watches sat idle.
What owners report about workarounds
Owner reports are mixed, and none of this is advice from Google. The Oct. 29 follow-up says turning off always-on display did little, and that a full reset helped some people but not everyone. The second outlet says restarting the watch and turning off always-on display helped in some cases.
What is not known
Neither outlet gives a release date for the fix. The second outlet says Google gave no cause. We have no figure for how many watches are affected, and the statement itself calls it a small number of users.
What this means for you
Google's Pixel Watch battery help page describes Battery Saver as turning off always-on display and limiting background activity. The page does not mention this issue, and we have not tested whether Battery Saver affects it.
Related
Google also changed another Pixel Watch feature this month: see Pixel Watch Safety Signal ends on December 12. For an earlier Pixel battery drain that Google fixed in a beta build, see Android 17 QPR2 Beta 7 and Flip to Shh. More is in Audio & Wearables.
