Does the Google Pixel Watch have blood oxygen tracking? | digital trends

At its “Made by Google” event on October 6, Google unveiled the latest Pixel collection, which includes the new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro phones, a Pixel tablet, and the company’s first smartwatch, the Pixel Watch. Powered by Wear OS 3.5, this Fitbit-infused wearable offers everything you’d expect from a smartwatch: health and fitness tracking, an always-on display, notifications, NFC, and more.

But on the health and fitness tracking front, these require different sensors to keep track of your active calories, steps, heart rate, flights climbed, body temperature, sleep and more. Many wearables have also included blood oxygen (SpO2) tracking in their repertoire in recent years. Is the Google Pixel Watch a Smartwatch to Track Your Blood Oxygen Readings?

A blood oxygen sensor is there, it’s just not activated

Technically, the Google Pixel Watch has a blood oxygen sensor built in. However, it wasn’t activated at all at the time of publication. The Pixel Watch can read your SpO2 levels at some point in the future, but it’s really just a waiting game as to when Google decides to unlock this feature for Pixel Watch users. Nobody knows when that will be at the moment.

On the one hand, it’s great that blood oxygen tracking support is there for future use. But that doesn’t make the absence any less irritating today.

The benefits of SpO2 tracking

Measuring blood oxygen levels on a smartwatch has many benefits. Measuring your SpO2 levels is usually done with a pulse oximeter, which detects how much oxygen is being carried through your system by your blood cells. The oxygen saturation level is reported back as a percentage and should be between 95% and 100% for a normal, healthy individual. If it’s lower, something could be wrong — low blood oxygen levels, for example, are a sign you may have COVID-19.

Typically, manufacturers who have smartwatches and wearables that can track SpO2 levels warn users that these measurements are only to keep track of overall fitness and well-being. They are not intended for medical diagnosis. Still, SpO2 measurements from such wearables can help indicate discrepancies that may require further attention from healthcare professionals.

Health features that the Pixel Watch will have at launch

The Google Pixel Watch is the culmination of Google’s acquisition of Fitbit in 2019. In fact, there were many rumors about a Pixel Watch even before the pandemic began, and it’s all finally come true. All of the health and fitness tracking on the Pixel Watch is credited to Fitbit. In fact, you get a six-month Fitbit Premium membership with your first Pixel Watch purchase. This subscription uses your health and fitness tracking to give you personalized insights into your overall health and wellness, coach you on improving your health goals, and more.

With Fitbit, the Pixel Watch tracks your continuous heart rate, steps, floors climbed, sleep stages, distance with GPS, and active exercise minutes, and has 40 different exercise modes. With so many workout options to choose from, there’s a high chance your usual workout routine can be tracked with Pixel Watch. You also get an EKG app to help you identify signs of atrial fibrillation (A-fib).

Get these Pixel Watch alternatives if you need SpO2 tracking

Apple Watch Series 8 is Apple’s latest smartwatch, tracking calories and steps, exercise minutes, SpO2, EKG readings and even fall detection. Those looking for a durable wearable for extreme sports and situations (that also has incredible battery life) should consider the Apple Watch Ultra, although that $799 starting price might not be the cheapest for everyone, especially compared to the starting price of $399 for the Apple Watch Ultra Series 8.

Of course, if you choose one of these Apple Watches, you need to be involved with the Apple ecosystem, which may or may not work for you. But if you’re splurging on one of the Apple Watches, both come standard with blood oxygen tracking right out of the box.

There is also the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 which is a good choice if you are a Samsung user as it needs to be paired with a Galaxy phone running at least Android 8.0. The Galaxy Watch 5 is also round like the Pixel Watch, but with fewer bezels, and it already has SpO2 tracking. It also touts 24/7 heart rate monitoring, EKG, and more. The ticker? The Galaxy Watch 5 costs less than the Google Pixel Watch, priced at $280 versus $350, giving you more bang for your buck.

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