What you need to know
- Pixel Watch users are reporting a new bug that hides sleep data on the watch, even though Fitbit still records it in the background.
- Many affected users keep seeing a “No recent data” message despite having complete sleep stats available in the Fitbit app.
- The issue reportedly lasts for multiple nights, and basic fixes like restarting the watch are not reliably solving it.
Another health-tracking nightmare is hitting Google’s Pixel Watch series, and this time it’s sleep data that’s the latest victim. Some Pixel Watch users are reporting that their watches have stopped displaying sleep stats on the device itself, although the data is still being recorded in the background.
Complaints started surfacing on Reddit late last week, with Pixel Watch users reporting their devices kept showing a frustrating “No recent data. Wear your watch to sleep” message (via Android Authority). The weird thing is that many of those same users could still see full sleep records from within the Fitbit app on their phones.
Restarting won’t fix it
Users have reported the issue to happen for several nights in a row and that simple troubleshooting such as restarting the watch does not always fix the issue.
The problem arises as the company is in the middle of turning Fitbit into a more expansive Google Health platform, and some Fitbit features have already been discontinued or altered as part of that transition. While there is no confirmation that these backend changes caused the issue, the timing has left Pixel Watch owners scratching their heads as their health metrics have been erratic.
This isn’t the first time Pixel Watch users have had to deal with health-tracking bugs in recent months. Earlier this year, a slew of Fitbit-related glitches meant that step counts were wrong, SpO2 readings were broken, skin temperature data was absent, and syncing was wonky on several generations of Pixel Watches. In one case, users said their watches were recording thousands of steps that couldn’t have been taken as they sat mostly still. In one, a Fitbit update supposedly stripped all permissions for health sensors altogether.
For now, those affected can still access their sleep records through the Fitbit app, so the data itself doesn’t appear to be lost. It looks like the issue is in the presentation or local fetching of the data on the watch.
Google has not officially explained what is causing the bug yet, but Android Central has contacted the company for comment. For now, until a fix arrives, Pixel Watch owners may have to resort to checking their phones instead of their wrists to see whether they actually got a decent night’s sleep.
Android Central’s Take
This bug is indicative of a bigger issue with Google’s wearables strategy at the moment: the company still sells the Pixel Watch as a serious health partner, but it almost invariably feels shaky when it comes to basic reliability. Sure, it’s comforting that the sleep data is at least being saved in the Fitbit app instead of disappearing altogether, but users shouldn’t have to play detective every morning to find last night’s stats.