After previously having connection woes with the Pixel 9 series, the Galaxy Watch 8 looks to be near-incompatible with the new Pixel 10 lineup. Google says it’s “looking into the pairing failures,” but a recent system update seems to have solved the issue.
Update 9/12: Following an update to the August 1 Google Play services update, users are reporting that the Galaxy Watch 8 can now connect to the Pixel 10. It’s unknown if this is the case for other Pixel devices, as the issue appeared to include other models.
In our own testing, a previously barred Galaxy Watch 8 Classic paired flawlessly to our Pixel 10 Pro XL on the first go following the update. It’s worth noting we skipped signing into Samsung Health at the start, though that should have no bearing on a successful connection.
The connection appears stable after rebooting both devices.
At the time of launch, Galaxy Watch 8 users immediately saw issues connecting to the Pixel series on Android 16 QPR1. This was somewhat expected, considering the software was in beta form and connection faults aren’t out of the ordinary with pre-production software.
That issue has since been resolved with subsequent updates.
However, it appears Google’s Pixel 10 series is now suffering from the same problem, though beta software has nothing to do with it. This comes from a post on Google’s official support forum. One user submitted a ticket indicating that their Pixel 10 Pro would not connect with the Galaxy Watch 8, and over 260 users have indicated that they’re experiencing the same issue.
According to them, after confirming pairing codes on both watch and phone, the setup fails or glitches out. No pending updates seem to be the issue.
Some devices on the 9to5Google team are seeing the same issue. After getting the Watch 8 Classic to work on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with no problems, upgrading to the Pixel 10 Pro XL resulted in multiple failed setup attempts. Sometimes the Pixel 10 Pro would refuse to give a pairing code, and the Watch 8 Classic would have to be reset because of the error. Other times, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Pixel 10 Pro XL could agree on codes and begin the pairing process, though it never exceeded 84% completion without faulting. This issue takes a tremendous amount of time and has no success.
Top comment by bull3964
It's not just the watch 8, but it's also not all Galaxy Watches (currently anyways).
(forgive my abundance of watches here, trade in deals can be crazy sometimes)
My Watch 5 Pro will not pair with the same symptoms as the 8 series.
My Watch 6C had no issues pairing (at least as of the end of last week), ditto for my Watch 7. However my Watch Ultra 2024 (which is pretty much just a Watch 7 in a different case) will not pair.
So, it's some combination between QPR1 and some OneUI patch level. The issue doesn't seem to be Pixel 10 exclusive once QPR1 started rolling out (and I've seen the same issue on a Pixel 8 with QPR1 beta.)
Since some Galaxy Watches work fine, it seems reasonable that this could be resolved on the OneUI side. Also, it's worth it to note that after the failed pairing, the affected watches get in such a bad state that they need to be factory reset. They SPAM out pairing requests and Bluetooth scans will show multiple visible devices from the same watch (even from non-Google phones).
I'm actually leaning more towards this it a Samsung issue than Google, but we'll see what happens. Wouldn't surprise me if Google tightened up some standards compliance in the pairing process that the Galaxy Watches aren't tolerating on some OneUI patch levels.
Google responded to the forum poster. It says it’s looking into the issue with the Pixel 10 Pro XL specifically, though we’d assume other Pixel 10 models are also being addressed.
The team is already looking into the pairing failures with Pixel 10 Pro XL and I’ll update this thread once there’s more information to share.
The original entry was posted on August 30. At the time of writing, it’s been over a week since Google responded to the thread. The thread has since received a substantial number of replies from users expressing the same issues.
The issue has come up on Samsung’s forums and Reddit, too. The number of users affected implies that this issue is widespread for the majority of Watch 8 and Pixel 10 users.
Gone unsolved, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is a $350+ paperweight.
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