Google has just made its Pixel Watch application available for download on the Play Store. That brings the number of first-party apps you can use with the new watch to three.
The company’s first smartwatch was unveiled a few days ago. As expected, the wearable is heavily fused with Fitbit technology. So it’s no surprise that you can use Fitbit’s health and fitness app to view activity data from your Pixel Watch. In fact, it seems the company prefers you to use it.
In a recent interview with CNETGoogle’s James Park says they consider “the Fitbit experience to be the flagship primary health experience for Google users.”
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That said, Google Fit continues to exist. So you can use this software instead to sync your data. However, it probably won’t be as deep and will lack the information that comes with the Fitbit platform.
There’s now a third proprietary app you can use with Google Pixel Watch
Now a third proprietary app has been made available and this one has nothing to do with health and fitness. It is used to personalize your watch. The old Google Smartwatch Wear OS will not work with the Pixel Watch.
If you head to the Google Play Store, you’ll notice that an app called Google Pixel Watch can be found. Once launched, it will ask you to configure your new watch. And if you don’t have one, there’s a link that will take you to where you can buy one.
Once you’ve paired your Pixel Watch, the app lets you customize watch faces, manage the tiles that show on the device, manage notifications, alerts, Google accounts, services and more. For individual watch faces, the software offers color and style customization options, as well as the ability to add and remove complications.
Here are some screenshots.
You can’t do some of these things with the Fitbit software, so you’ll need to have at least two apps running to fully manage your Pixel Watch. If this all sounds confusing, that’s because it is. Having two apps to manage one device is not ideal. That said, this is just the beginning of the Google/Fitbit integration, so over time things will get easier.
The Pixel Watch app can only be downloaded for Android phones. If you have an iPhone, you are no longer locked out – the Google Watch will not work with your phone. Those using iOS will need to opt for one of Fitbit’s wearables or transition to the Apple Watch, Garmin or one of the other wearable device makers.
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