Here’s why Google Fit doesn’t work with Fossil’s Wear OS 3 update, wonky on Pixel Watch

Ben Schoon | Oct 17 2022 - 8:34 am PT

Wear OS 3 is finally heading to users, as the platform’s reboot is now rolling out to Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches. Unfortunately, the update also removes Google Fit from Fossil’s smartwatches.

Google first unveiled Wear OS 3 in mid-2021, but it’s taken well over a year for the update to land on anything beyond Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series. But it wasn’t until the Montblanc Summit 3 and Pixel Watch that we really got a good look at what the revamp brings to the table.

Now, Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches are getting their Wear OS 3 update, but without support for the longtime health-tracking app Google Fit.

Early adopters of the update noticed the app is no longer pre-loaded – this update requires a full factory reset – and Fossil further confirmed the removal in a detailed post about Wear OS 3. In that post, the company explains why Google Fit is missing from Fossil devices on Wear OS 3, which also explains why the app isn’t available on the Pixel Watch.

Fossil explains that Google Fit can be installed on Wear OS 3, but it lacks support for “Wear Health Services,” which is a core part of the revamped platform.

Google Fit is actually available as an app, but it hasn’t been updated to support the latest Wear Health Services, so Fossil is not preloading that one for now. We are continuing to support Google Fit data syncing via our phone app at least for the time being until people stop using that.

On Pixel Watch, trying to actually use the Fit app just brings up a message that the app “isn’t supported” on Google’s device. At least, that’s the case out of the box. Some recent updates either to the watch itself or perhaps to Fit seem to have unlocked support, but the message below still appears for some. We were able to use Google Fit shortly after this article was first published through some further testing. Heart rate monitoring and step counting is working, but the message below was still showing in some instances.

Google explains that Health Services on Wear OS 3 acts “as an intermediary” for the various health sensors on your smartwatch. This allows health apps to access data including activity, exercise, and general health.

It seems that Google Fit just needs an update to support Health Services on Wear OS 3 devices that are closer to “stock.” Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series supports Google Fit currently, but Samsung’s hefty skin changes quite a bit about the platform. Whether or not Google Fit will actually get this update remains to be seen, as the company’s focus seems to have shifted over to Fitbit in some major ways.

Beyond that, Google Assistant also isn’t compatible with Fossil smartwatches on Wear OS 3, as the company had said before the update actually rolled out. Sadly, that remains the case now that the update has been released. This doesn’t really come as a surprise. The Montblanc Summit 3 also lacks Assistant, and Samsung’s smartwatches didn’t get the voice assistant for nearly a year after its launch.

At least Fossil’s smartwatches still have Alexa.

Update: This article was updated to clarify the state of Google Fit on the Pixel Watch, which does appear to work, but was disabled initially.