Google will require that you have a newer Android phone to use Pixel Watch 3

Ben Schoon | Jul 31 2024 - 4:45 am PT

Google’s upcoming Pixel Watch 3 is bringing new features and hardware upgrades, but also new minimum requirements, as you’ll need a slightly newer Android phone to use it.

New promo materials that hit the web earlier this week revealed most of the new features coming to the Pixel Watch 3 series including new fitness features, updated apps, and a tweak in Wear OS. The images, posted by Android Headlines, also reveal that Google will be requiring that you have a newer Android smartphone to use the Pixel Watch 3 as well.

In a footnote across multiple promo images, Google says that Pixel Watch 3 will require an Android smartphone running Android 10.0 or higher. On Pixel Watch 2, Android 9.0 (Pie) was the minimum requirement, up from Android 8.0 (Oreo) on the original Pixel Watch.

Pixel Watch 3 works with most phones running Android 10.0 or newer, and Pixel Watch 2 works with most phones running Android 9.0 or newer. Both watches require a Google Account and the Google Pixel Watch app.

This change likely won’t affect the bulk of Pixel Watch buyers, or Android users as a whole as only around 13-14% of active devices are still running on Android 10.

Pixel Watch 3 is expected to launch with Wear OS 5 out of the box, just like Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch models. Notably, though, Samsung (without directly listing a minimum requirement) still supports Android 9.0 on Galaxy Watches running Wear OS 5.