Older Pixel watches are losing free cellular access to several safety features
Features like Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Safety Check will require an active mobile plan after December 12th.
Features like Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Safety Check will require an active mobile plan after December 12th.
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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.
Google announced through a short community post today that the LTE versions of the Pixel Watch 2 and 3 are losing free access to Safety Signal that allowed features like Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Safety Check to work through cellular networks without the need for a carrier plan. The connectivity was included as part of a Google Health Premium subscription, but after December 12th the free access will end requiring users to pay for a mobile plan to continue to use Safety Signal on an LTE network.
Existing users with free access will be notified through notifications and an email. The Safety Signal features will still be available without a mobile plan during a 30-day transition period starting when the email is sent, but access ends after the mid-December cutoff.
The various emergency features that Safety Signal covered will continue to work afterwards on the Pixel Watch 2 and 3 without a mobile plan, but only while the watch is connected to Wi-Fi or paired to a smartphone over Bluetooth.
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