Summary
- The March 2025 Pixel Feature Drop for the Pixel Watch includes enhancements like improved step count accuracy and Loss of Pulse Detection.
- The Pixel Watch update is based on Wear OS 5.1 and Android 15, derived from Google’s shift to Trunk Stable development.
- Google says the next big Pixel Watch update will only arrive in June 2025.
Google announced the March 2025 Pixel Feature Drop for its Pixel phones and watches, packing several new features. For the Pixel Watch, the update brings enhanced step count accuracy, Loss of Pulse Detection on the Pixel Watch 3 in the US, and more. It turns out the March update for the Pixel Watch is even more significant, as it is based on Android 15 and Wear OS 5.1.
In the official release notes for the March 2025 Pixel Watch update, Google details all the changes the build brings. As part of this, it mentions that the latest firmware for the Pixel Watch lineup is based on Wear OS 5.1. A previous report had detailed that Wear OS 5.1 would be based on Android 15, with minimal user-facing changes. Google also made Wear OS 5.1 available for developer testing back in November 2024 itself.
Wear OS 5.1 is likely based on Android 15 due to Google’s shift to Trunk Stable development. This ensures all engineers and teams contribute to the same branch of code, improving efficiency and speed. This is also why older Pixels are getting an extra OS update.
The BP1A.250305.019.W3 for the Pixel Watch 2 and 3 and the original Pixel Watch’s BP1A.250305.019.W2 firmware is rolling out starting today. However, because Google is releasing the update in batches, your device may not receive it right away.
You can download the build immediately by navigating to Settings > System > System updates and repeatedly tapping the “Your watch is up to date” screen. However, the update only seems to be live for the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth variants of the wearable.
Pixel Watch will only get quarterly updates in the future
Given that Google did not explicitly highlight Android 15 and Wear OS 5.1 in its original announcement, don’t expect this underlying change to bring any notable improvements to your Pixel Watch experience. You may notice smoother system animations or performance, but even that could be a stretch.
The new features, like on-device menstrual tracking, auto-bedtime mode on the Pixel Watch 2, and loss of pulse detection on the Pixel Watch 3, are all part of the March Feature Drop and have nothing to do with the underlying OS upgrade.
Google also notes in its announcement that the next Pixel Watch update will arrive in June 2025. After that, the company plans to roll out only quarterly updates for its smartwatches.
