The caveat is that you cannot see your workout information on the watch if you have this passive method turned on. You can start the workout manually, but if you forget, the watch will not ping you 10 minutes into your workout to ask if you want to start tracking. Some folks may find that annoying, but at least you can be happy knowing the data is being recorded; you just have to wait a few minutes to see it post-workout.
If you do want activity tracking reminders, you can turn on “Start workout reminders” in the Fitbit Exercise app on the Pixel Watch 4, but then this disables the passive recording feature. I actually prefer letting Google’s algorithms figure out my workout and give me the data later, though it would be nice to occasionally see my workout data in real time when I forget to manually start it.
I don’t bike much these days, but cyclists may find the new real-time bike streaming feature handy. Start a bike workout on the watch, and you’ll automatically get a notification on the phone. Tap it, and you’ll be able to see your metrics like heart rate, speed, and distance on your smartphone, streamed from the watch. It worked seamlessly in my test.
Unfortunately, Google didn’t have the new Fitbit app experience powered by an AI coach available just yet. It’s supposed to launch later this month, so we’ll have to wait and see how it changes the fitness and health experience of the Pixel Watch 4 (and all Fitbit devices).
This smartwatch retains several nifty tricks from prior models, like Loss of Pulse detection, blood oxygen and skin temperature measurements, an electrocardiogram, not to mention fall detection. My colleague Adrienne actually fell during a run while wearing the Watch 4, however, and it did not detect the fall at all. That might be because she moved before the 30 seconds were up, which is the time the Watch 4 waits to detect movement. (After that time, the watch will vibrate and sound an alarm, and if still no movement is detected after 60 seconds, it will call the emergency services.)