Wear OS 5 update halted as it may soft-brick Pixel Watch

Google may have halted the Wear OS 5 update for the first and second generations of the Pixel Watch. It seems the update may “soft brick” these premium smartwatches.

Has the Wear OS 5 update disappeared?

Google started sending out the Wear OS 5 update this week. This update is meant for the older generations of the Pixel Watch models. Specifically speaking, the Pixel Watch and the Pixel Watch 2 are eligible for the OTA (Over The Air) update. The Pixel Watch 3 models already have the latest version of Wear OS 5.

Several early adopters downloaded and installed the update on their Pixel Watch. Most of the devices with the updated Wear OS seem to be running fine. However, the update appears to have vanished. In other words, several Pixel Watch owners have been unable to download Wear OS 5.

Pixel Watch owners have to head over to Settings > System > System updates to install any available update. However, despite repeatedly tapping this option, some older Pixel Watch models do not pull any files.

Why has Google allegedly halted the Wears OS 5 update files?

Incidentally, Google hasn’t deleted the Wear OS 5 update. According to 9to5Google, the factory and OTA images for manual installation remain listed. But, quite a few Pixel Watch users have complained they cannot get the update on their smartwatch.

It’s possible that these particular smartwatches might not have access to the update. Perhaps rebooting these older Pixel Watch models or waiting for a few hours might help. However, a few Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 owners who installed the update, experienced weird issues with their smartwatches. Some reports indicate that after installing the update, these devices fail to switch on properly and hang.

Common symptoms of soft-bricked devices include a black screen that only has a small Bluetooth logo at the bottom. Some affected devices also display broken or wrong fonts.

Fixing a Pixel Watch that has experienced a soft brick involves resetting the device from “Fastboot” mode and restoring data. Needless to say, this isn’t as convenient as tapping on the display a few times.

Perhaps realizing the update could be causing problems for the older Pixel Watch models, Google might have halted its deployment. The search giant hasn’t made any announcement yet, presumably because the issue seems limited to a small number of devices.

Update:

A Google spokesperson has informed us that the company is aware of the issue and is working on a fix. “We’re aware of the issue affecting some Pixel Watch users, and in the meantime, we have paused the WearOS 5 rollout and are actively working on a resolution,” the spokesperson said.