Google Pixel Watches hit with delayed notifications, crashing, and performance issues following Wear OS 5.1 update

Google has rolled out Wear OS 5.1 to all of its Pixel Watches
There are reports it could be causing serious issues
Reported problems include delayed notifications, crashes, and sluggish performance

If your Google Pixel Watch has recently started giving you delayed notifications, crashing, and slowing down, you’re not alone, and the recent Wear OS 5.1 update could be to blame.

Google rolled out Wear OS 5.1 to all of its Pixel Watch models, including the best Android smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 3, at the start of March.

Promised upgrades include the Loss of Pulse Detection feature in the US, as well as upgrades to menstrual health support, step counts, and sleep tracking.

However, there are now numerous reports from users who are saying the update appears to be causing serious performance issues, delayed notifications, and more.

As reported by Android Police, multiple Pixel Watch 3 owners on Reddit are reporting problems, some of which are also occurring on older models.

Wear OS 5.1 issues on Pixel Watch – what we know

Google Pixel Watch 3, 41mm and 45mm

(Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)

“Has anyone else had sluggish connection issues from the app to the watch since the March update? I am not able to edit watch faces, syncing with Fitbit is very slow and there are delayed notifications,” one poster noted in the Pixel Watch subreddit.

“Delayed notifications issue is definitely affecting me,” one commenter replied. “My landlord had called me today and the watch didn’t even react once,” another added.

Delayed notifications seem to be the most prevalent issue, however. Users are also reporting crashing when trying to edit Watch faces, a frozen or unresponsive touchscreen, Fitbit syncing issues, and more.

TechRadar has also seen similar reports in Google’s Pixel Watch Help Community.

It’s a blow for Google, which recently moved to a quarterly software update cycle for Wear OS. Whether that precludes more frequent patches for serious issues like this remains to be seen, and we’ve reached out to Google for comment on these issues.

We’ll be sure to update you if anything changes. If the company sticks to the quarterly cycle, even for security and performance, it could be a long few months for users who’ve upgraded.

If you haven’t yet downloaded Wear OS 5.1, we’d recommend swerving the update until these issues get fixed.

Last year, Google had to pause the rollout of Wear OS 5 to older Pixel Watch models because of issues with crashing and even bricking, so it looks like the company is yet to get a handle on pushing stable software updates to its users.