Photo: Yasin Hasan (Shutterstock)
The best alarm clock is the one on your wrist. Smartwatches can wake you with gentle taps, rather than blaring alarms, resulting in a more peaceful morning for you and anyone else your traditional alarm might otherwise awaken. But whatever device you use for your alarm clock, you expect it to go off at the exact time you set. Apparently, Google’s Pixel Watch missed that memo.
According to 9to5Google, Pixel Watch users have been noticing their alarms sounding off late, or, in some cases, early. Judging from the current lineup of complaints, the delay isn’t off by that much, usually ranging from one to ten minutes at a time. It also seems to be affecting alarms specifically set for the morning. As such, the current theory is the issue relates to the Pixel Watch’s transition out of Bedtime mode, which might be throwing off its ability to sound an alarm at the precise minute you chose previously.
But we can’t ignore the elephant in the room here: The Pixel Watch has an issue sounding alarms at the correct time. You should be able to trust that an alarm goes off when you set it, otherwise, what’s the point? Should you be setting your Pixel Watch for 6:50 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. in case it decides to wait an extra 10 minutes to go off? Well, it might turn around and go off at 6:47 a.m. instead.
Sure, the delay hasn’t been more than 10 minutes yet, but who’s to say that won’t change? Maybe one day, the bug decides to wait 20 minutes, or an hour, to sound off. You set your alarm for 7 a.m., but now you’re waking up at 8 a.m., late for the day. If I had a Pixel Watch, I wouldn’t trust it.
Until Google addresses the issue with an official patch, it’s probably safer to settle for another device to wake up to. If you have an iPhone, or an old one laying around, you might like to use its hidden alarm sounds, which are much more pleasant than the default options.
