One of the biggest benefits to buying a smartwatch these days is personal safety. Sure, smartwatches are great for staying active and connected, but modern smartwatches are capable of getting you help when you might need it most. Take the Google Pixel Watch, for example.
The Google Pixel Watch 2 is one of the best smartwatches currently available in the Android market, and it’s hands-down the best smartwatch for Google Pixel smartphone users. But as with any device or gadget, knowing about all the available features is essential to making the most of your experience. Although the Pixel Watch’s safety tools might not seem necessary on a daily basis, users actually have important tools at their disposal. And according to Google, these features have already had a positively impact,
“With smartwatches, the ability to call emergency services and send location, we do see that users are turning to their devices for help in emergency situations,” said Edward Shi, product manager on Google’s Safety Team. “Our mission is to help users feel and be safe with Google and their smart devices, that’s definitely top of mind for us.”
Not every smartwatch is built the same in terms of safety features. Fall Detection is perhaps one of the more standard features you’d find, but some companies like Google have invested in detecting more sophisticated accidents, like car crashes.
“It takes a lot of testing and making sure you’re thinking of different scenarios the user might be in when it comes to any safety situation — to make sure that the features we’re delivering are helpful in the situation and we never want them to get in the way of a user getting help,” Shi said. "Taking those things into account is where the nuances lie when developing safety features on smartwatches.”
When it comes to the Pixel Watch 2 specifically, there are three core safety features in conversation. Here’s what they are, and how they all work:
Safety Check
Announced alongside the Pixel Watch 2, Safety Check can be found within the Personal Safety app within Wear OS 4 and used to keep your friends and family clued into your whereabouts. You can create a Safety Check by choosing an activity, such as walking home, and setting a duration of your activity anywhere from 15 minutes to 8 hours. If you don’t confirm you’re safe by the time the Safety Check expires, your emergency contacts will be notified and sent your location. You can see it in action here.
“Safety Check is a little bit different from our other safety features since it can be used on a more frequent basis,” said Shi. “The motivation was listening to users who mentioned, ‘I may not necessarily be in an emergency at this particular moment, but there’s a heightened sense or possibility that something could happen, and I just want a safety net to be there.”
In the Personal Safety app and at the end of the the Safety Check, there’s also an option to call emergency services directly for help. Shi said that altogether, Safety Check has received “great user feedback,” elaborating that users may feel more empowered to go enjoy outdoor activities alone knowing that their device is watching out for them.
Fall Detection
Fall Detection uses the motion sensor on your Pixel Watch or Pixel Watch 2 in conjunction with a machine learning-trained algorithm that runs consistently in the background. If the algorithm detects a fall based on the motion sensor’s signature, it’ll wait for about 30 seconds to see if you get moving again. If it was more than a little stumble and you’re still motionless, the watch will begin a 60-second timer.
During the timer, users can either indicate that they need help or that they’re OK. But, in the instance where a user doesn’t engage with their watch, emergency services will automatically be called and sent to their location. We would strongly suggest enabling Fall Detection in the Personal Safety app, so that your Pixel Watch is prepared to help you in situations where you fall, even if it’s during a bike ride.
“Every type of fall is a little bit different,” Shi said, speaking to the process of testing Fall Detection for different scenarios. “We have to anticipate, if you were to fall from a bicycle, what would that fall look like? What does that signature from a motion sensor look like? What our team does is actually simulate these falls with professional stuntmen to make sure our algorithm is tuned properly.”
Car Crash Detection
Available only for Pixel Watch 2, Car Crash Detection works similarly to Fall Detection in that if your watch’s motion sensors detect a potential collision, a countdown will start during which you can say you’re fine or call for help. If you don’t respond within 60 seconds, emergency services will be called for you. Car Crash Detection alerts also bypass Do Not Disturb and Bedtime mode for the best chance at getting you help.
“We actually go to facilities and crash cars, so we make sure that it can actually detect the crash,” Shi said, adding that the team also tests the device’s response on rollercoasters to learn the difference and prevent accidental triggers.
“We’re confident in terms of the considerations and deliberateness of what we do, and the diligence of our testing so that we’re testing for the scenarios that we think we can detect, Shi said. “We’re always trying to see how we can make the biggest impact on users.”
