Google gives Pixel Watch 5 a big Gemini and gesture upgrade

Pixel Watch 5 has barely had time to get comfortable on anyone’s wrist, and Google is already throwing a pretty chunky update at it. The September release brings offline Gemini, smarter hand gestures, improved GPS route maps and several AI features.

Gemini can now do more without your phone

There is quite a lot packed into build CP3A.260905.002.

Offline Gemini is probably worth mentioning first. Google says Pixel Watch 5 can now handle core commands on-device, so things like setting a timer, starting or stopping a workout and turning on Do Not Disturb can work even when the watch has no connection.

The company is also improving the Raise to Talk gesture model. This should make invoking Gemini by lifting your wrist a little less hit and miss.

Gemini Personalization goes in the opposite direction and makes much heavier use of your wider Google account. It can pull information from past conversations and connected services including Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube and Photos, allowing questions such as what is on your calendar or where a tracking number is buried in your email.

Google says an offline user profile works alongside real-time online retrieval to provide those responses. So the simple stuff can increasingly happen on the watch itself, while more personal questions can pull information from the Google services you already use.

There is also a new Proactive Suggestions feature, although this one comes with a fairly big catch. It only works when Pixel Watch 5 is paired with a Pixel 11, with Gemini and proactive assistance enabled on the phone.

Double pinch suddenly does a lot more

Google is also making much better use of hand gestures. Double pinch can now open At a Glance or the notification centre from the watch face, scroll through Gemini responses, move through Google Wallet cards and scroll through workout metrics.

The same gesture can switch between Google Maps views and control the Recorder app. Wrist turn also becomes a universal back gesture, which should make one-handed navigation around Wear OS considerably easier.

The company has been gradually adding more gesture-based interaction to Wear OS, including improvements to Raise to Talk in the Wear OS 7 update for earlier Pixel Watches. Pixel Watch 5 now gets a much broader version of that idea.

Google is also changing the GPS route maps

The other interesting part of the update is GPS. Google describes the change as its “most accurate GPS route tracking” and says there are major improvements to the route maps shown in Google Health after running, cycling, hiking and walking sessions.

That fits with what Google already revealed about Pixel Watch 5. The watch uses dual-frequency GNSS alongside more sophisticated post-processing to clean up tracks using environmental modelling, atmospheric corrections and other data, something we covered in our Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4 comparison.

A cleaner-looking route map is nice. But what really counts is whether distance and pace improve in difficult places such as city centres, wooded trails and areas with tall buildings. This update should help with that.

The September health features are not mentioned

One thing that is conspicuously absent from Google’s changelog is the new Health Guardian features. Google has separately said that Insulin Resistance Trends is arriving around this period, while Blood Pressure Trends is also part of the wider health package announced alongside Pixel Watch 5.

Neither appears in this particular September update announcement. Nevertheless, this still leaves Pixel Watch 5 with a fairly substantial first update. The other features should, hopefully, arrive later this month or in October.