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Google has released the August 2023 update for the Pixel Watch, as it did for its phones. The wearable is getting a bunch of vulnerability fixes that are part of the latest Wear OS security patch. There’s no new feature or improvement in tow, at least according to the official changelog supplied by the company.
The August update for the Pixel Watch comes with the firmware build number RWDC.230805.001. It’s the same build number globally, with no regional variant. While it’s a relatively minor release, the next update should be a bigger one. Google is due to release the third quarterly feature drop of the year for Pixel devices in September.
This update contains several high-severity security fixes for the Pixel Watch
Google has started publishing a separate monthly security bulletin for Wear OS, similar to those for Android and Automotive. The August 2023 bulletin mentions a total of eight security fixes for Wear OS smartwatches, including the Pixel Watch.
All of them are high-severity vulnerabilities and could potentially lead to local information disclosure if a threat actor exploited them in the wild. These vulnerabilities don’t require additional execution privileges or user interaction for exploitation.
Most of these security flaws are present in both Wear OS 3/3.5 (based on Android 11) and Wear OS 4 (based on Android 13). The latter is currently exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series. The Korean firm is beta testing the new version for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5, with the stable update expected soon.
Google may also soon open a Wear OS 4 beta program for the Pixel Watch. There’s no official word from the company yet, though. We will let you know when we have more information. For the time being, install the latest update to keep your Google smartwatch safe from a bunch of vulnerabilities.
According to Google, the August update started rolling out recently and may take a while to reach everyone around the world. As usual, you should get a notification once the update becomes available for your Pixel Watch unit. You can also manually check for updates by navigating to Settings > System > System updates.
If you see a “Your watch is up to date” screen, you can try forcibly triggering the update by repeatedly tapping on the screen multiple times in quick succession. If the trick works, disabling Bluetooth and forcing the watch to a Wi-Fi connection will speed up the process. But if it doesn’t work, you might have to wait a few more days.