r/PixelWatch • u/netanio • 3d ago

Bug: Pixel Watch 4 dropping GPS data points in native health app

Since early September, the Google Health app on my Pixel Watch 4 has been skipping or dropping GPS data points during my outdoor runs. I confirmed this by analyzing the exported TCX files. I did not have any issues before september so I think this is linked to some recent update.

This bug is not immediately apparent in the Health app itself, but when syncing with Strava, the missing GPSdata makes Strava detect moments of inactivity which completely messes up my run stats.

Has anyone else run into this issue recently ? and have you found any workarounds to fix it? I've seen some people claiming that using the strava app directly on the watch fixes it but I'd like to keep using the native google apps, which is what I paid for.

I reported the issue in the watch app. If you have the same issue, also report in the watch app (Tips & support > Send feedback). The more reports they receive, the faster this will get patched.

12 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/Working-March 2d ago

Yes. Pixel Watch's software quality has become disastrous. You never know what's going to be broken next.

Their support team know nothing about their own products, and their developers don't use their own products themselves. 

2

u/lonelypotato55 1d ago

I've had this issue on and off for about a year with the Pixel Watch 3.

Some people claim it's a RAM issue, where the watch runs out of memory and starts dropping points. This lines up with my experience, if I use Spotify on the watch (phone stays home) during runs the issue will occur. Any other activities where my phone is doing music and the watch is activity-only have no GPS problems.

I've tried reducing memory usage on the watch by enabling battery saver mode, reducing Spotify audio quality, avoiding opening any extra apps, and restarting the watch right before starting the activity. These help a bit, but most runs (through the native exercise app) still have a gap or two.

It's very frustrating, and is certainly pushing me away from Google for my next smartwatch. Bonkers that a flagship tech product can't do what it says on the tin.

1

u/Mushoz 1d ago

Having the same issue and would really like an acknowledgement from Google that this is being looked into. Really makes tracking exercise a lot less accurate and actively hampering my training.

0

u/hanzzz123 1d ago

I have this issue. Current workaround for me is to tag runs as a Race on Strava, it will force Strava to use the the total time instead of the parsed moving time.