Google is telling Pixel Watch 1 owners to update a watch that can’t update

Some Pixel Watch 1 owners are seeing a warning that sleep and fitness tracking may stop unless they update their watch. The problem is that the original Pixel Watch is already at the end of Google’s guaranteed software support period, so there may be no update for them to install.

A Pixel Watch 1 owner posted the warning on Reddit after seeing it appear on their watch. The message tells users they need newer watch software to keep using sleep and fitness tracking.

That sounds simple enough, except the watch in question is already running Wear OS 5.1.

Pixel Watch 1 owners are stuck

Google only guaranteed software updates for the original Pixel Watch until October 2025, according to its official support timeline. The watch launched in October 2022, so its three-year support window has already ended.

Google did push a modem software update to Pixel Watch 1 in March 2026, but the first-generation model has not moved on to the newer Wear OS versions used by more recent Pixel Watches.

That leaves owners in a strange position. Their watch is telling them to update, but there may be nothing available to update to.

Another Pixel Watch 1 owner in the Reddit discussion says they received the same warning. They also posted what appears to be a response from Google support saying that Pixel Watch 1 is no longer supported.

That does not mean Google has officially announced the end of health tracking on Pixel Watch 1. There is no public support notice saying that sleep, steps or workouts are being switched off. But if this is the case, the device will lose access to Google Health.

It does not appear to affect everyone

Not every Pixel Watch 1 owner is seeing the problem. Other users in the same Reddit thread say their watches are still syncing steps and sleep data normally. So this could still turn out to be a bug, an incorrectly targeted warning or some kind of compatibility problem with a recent Google Health update.

Google’s own health support documentation still talks about sleep, heart rate and activity tracking on Pixel Watch without suggesting that those functions have been removed from the first-generation model.

That is why calling the watch “bricked” is probably going too far for now. The watch itself still works. And you can pair it to other apps. The question is whether Google is starting to require newer software for some of the health features that made people buy it in the first place.

Stopping major Wear OS updates after three years is one thing. Losing sleep and fitness tracking because Google’s health platform has moved on is something else entirely. The original Pixel Watch isn’t even four years old yet. Plenty of them will still be working perfectly well.

Google is already on the Pixel Watch 5, but that doesn’t mean the original model should suddenly start losing basic health features with little explanation. For now, this looks more like a developing issue than a confirmed shutdown. Still, with multiple owners seeing the same warning, it’s one Pixel Watch 1 users will want to watch closely.