Like with phones, Google now offers full factory and OTA images for the Pixel Watch, though they can’t really be used by most people to restore a bricked device.
Found on the Pixel phone website at developers.google.com, there’s “r11btwifi” for Google Pixel Watch (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) and “r11” for Google Pixel Watch (LTE). The Android 11 builds go back to the October 2022 launch with the early releases featuring many carrier and international variants.
For the past two months, Google has just offered one global build each month.
In terms of how you can use these builds, the short answer is that most people can’t. On phones, these files let you recover from catastrophic device errors with just a USB-C cable and a desktop computer. With the Pixel Watch, you can’t use the images without a special accessory and the intended audience is not the general public.
Google says “flashing factory or full OTA images on a Google Pixel Watch requires a debug adapter that Google distributes by invitation only,” presumably leveraging the pins in the top band slot/connector.
Officially, the company says that “these files are for use only on your personal Google Pixel Watch devices and may not be disassembled, decompiled, reverse engineered, modified or redistributed by you or used in any way except as specifically set forth in the license terms that came with your device.” That would very much be the other use for them at this point.
More on Pixel Watch:
- Google Home’s animated camera notifications on Wear OS rolling out in June
- The TicWatch Pro 5 doesn’t have Google Assistant, as Wear OS keeps holding it back
- Wear OS 4 improves golf tracking, Health Connect integrated into Android 14
- Google announces Wear OS 4, Gmail and Calendar for watches, more
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