Get help in an emergency with Google Pixel Watch safety features

Google Pixel Watch can connect you to emergency services if you need help. If you've unlocked your watch at least once since startup, you can call an emergency contact without the need to unlock it.¹ With Google Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3, every safety feature, which includes Safety Check⁷, is available with or without your phone nearby.

On the other hand, your Google Pixel Watch Wi-Fi relies on your phone to call emergency services. This feature requires your phone to be close enough and connected through Bluetooth. Your watch can’t be used to speak with emergency services without that Bluetooth connection to your phone.

Your Google Pixel Watch LTE doesn’t need a phone to call emergency services. However, it needs an active LTE connection on your watch to call emergency services. If you have a Pixel Watch 2 LTE with Fitbit Premium, you can use Safety Signal.

Safety Signal⁵ allows you to use safety features without your phone nearby. An active Fitbit Premium Subscription enables phone-free connectivity through Safety Signal. For more information, visit Use Safety Signal on Google Pixel Watch.

Certain regions require an active LTE carrier or Safety Signal to support emergency calls placed from a Pixel Watch.

Turn on and use safety features on Pixel Watch

Learn how to turn on and use these different safety features:

Safety Feature	On Pixel Watch	On Pixel Watch 2	On Pixel Watch 3
Car Crash Detection	—	✓	✓
Emergency SOS3	✓	✓	✓
Fall detection4	✓	✓	✓
Emergency contact dialing	—	✓	✓
Safety Signal5	—	✓	✓
Loss of Pulse Detection	—	—	✓
Emergency Sharing6	✓ (Wear OS 4 or newer)	✓	✓
Safety Check7	✓ (Wear OS 4 or newer)	✓	✓
Medical Info	✓ (Wear OS 4 or newer)	✓	✓

Car Crash Detection

Car Crash Detection can track if you’ve been in a severe car crash. Call emergency services automatically, like 911 in the US, notify emergency contacts, and share your location.

How Car Crash Detection works

Car Crash Detection on your Pixel Watch uses information like your phone’s location and motion sensors. If your phone detects a car crash, it can call emergency services for you. This call uses Android’s Emergency Location Service (ELS) and may send info about where you are and what happened.

You can also use Emergency Sharing with Car Crash Detection, which will share your real-time location with your emergency contacts in situations where a crash is detected and there isn’t any response from you.

Important:

• Both Car Crash Detection and ELS can be used independently.
• If turned on, ELS will work for every emergency call (if available in an area) and sends your location information to emergency services.
• When turned on, Car Crash Detection uses ELS whenever it places a call automatically during emergency situations.
• Car Crash Detection will continue to function even if ELS is turned off.

When a crash is detected, Safety on your watch will check in and a full-screen 60-second countdown will take over. Your watch will vibrate and an alarm will sound (this alarm will bypass Do Not Disturb and Bedtime mode). To cancel the countdown, tap I’m OK.

To immediately start a call to emergency services, tap Call 911 (or any other default emergency services number, which varies by country). The call automatically defaults to the official government emergency services area in the country or region.

Important:

• If a potential crash is detected and there's no response from you, your watch places a call to emergency services on your behalf. During the call, it plays an audio message to inform emergency responders of the potential crash, that you were unresponsive, and provides your location information.
• If you wish to talk to emergency services personally and stop the automated message, tap Call 911 (or any other default number for emergency services of the country or region you're located).
• Your watch may not be able to detect every crash.
• High-impact activities could also trigger Car Crash Detection.
• In some cases, your Pixel Watch might not be able to call emergency services. For example, your phone might be connected to a weak mobile network.
• Car Crash Detection won't work in airplane mode, or when Battery Saver is on.

Set up Car Crash Detection

Car Crash Detection settings are tied to the Google Account you used to sign in to the Safety app. When you enable or disable Car Crash Detection on any device, the settings will synchronize across all supported devices linked to your Google Account.

On Google Pixel Watch

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety  Tap Car Crash Detection.

Through the Safety app on paired phone

1. On your phone, open Safety .
2. Tap Features  Car Crash Detection.

Through the Google Pixel Watch app

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap Safety & emergency  Car Crash Detection.

Interoperability between Pixel Watch and Pixel phones

Car Crash Detection works with Pixel Watches and Pixel Phones if paired through Bluetooth. When actively paired, both devices will check in with you and you can respond to either device once.

When your watch isn't connected with its paired phone through Bluetooth and nearby, then Car Crash Detection will run on each device independently. This instance will only happen if both devices are powered on.

Supported regions and languages

Car Crash Detection is available in the following languages and countries or regions:

Language availability	Country or region availability
Danish Dutch English French French (Canada) Germany Italian Japanese Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Spanish Swedish	Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark France German India Ireland Italy Japan Norway Netherlands Portugal Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan UK US

Emergency SOS

Emergency SOS can quickly connect you with help in an emergency. To use Emergency SOS, press the crown 5 times, then touch and hold the screen for 3 seconds to call emergency services. If you release your hold on the screen before 3 seconds, it goes back to the first screen and the call won’t be placed.

Tip: You can set up Emergency SOS to automatically call emergency services after a 5-second countdown instead of having to touch and hold the screen.

You can also set Emergency SOS to call a specified emergency contact instead of emergency services in Add Emergency contacts.

Important: 

• Google Pixel Watch Wi-Fi may not be able to call all emergency numbers in all countries. It can only place a call if your phone is nearby and paired with your watch.

• Google Pixel Watch LTE may not be able to call emergency numbers in all countries without an active LTE connection or Safety Signal.

With Emergency Location Service turned on, your phone shares your location with regional emergency responders if they use ELS. For Google Pixel Watch LTE, ELS is on by default. To turn ELS on for your watch:

1. Press the crown and tap Safety  Emergency Location Service

2. Turn on Use emergency location service.

Important: This doesn't set up Emergency SOS on your Pixel phone.

Set up Emergency SOS

On Google Pixel Watch

1. On Google Pixel Watch, swipe down.
2. Tap Settings Safety & emergency Emergency SOS.
3. Choose how you want to start Emergency SOS:
   • Touch & hold to call: Calls emergency services after you quickly press the watch crown 5 consecutive times, then touch and hold the screen for 3 seconds.
   • Automatically call: Calls emergency services after a 5-second countdown when you quickly press the watch crown 5 consecutive times.

In the Google Pixel Watch app

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap Settings   Safety & emergency Emergency SOS.
3. Turn on Emergency SOS.

Turn off Emergency SOS

On Google Pixel Watch

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Scroll down and tap Personal Safety Emergency SOS.
3. Turn off Emergency SOS.

In the Google Pixel Watch app

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap ​Settings  Safety & emergency Emergency SOS​.
3. Turn off Emergency SOS.

Important: If you place a call to emergency services by mistake, don't hang up. Tell the emergency operator that the call was accidental and you don't need assistance.

Add emergency contacts

Add multiple emergency contacts and choose one primary emergency contact.

1. On Google Pixel Watch, swipe down.
2. Tap Settings Safety & emergency Emergency SOS.
3. Tap Manage contacts. Choose to allow or deny access to the contacts saved in your phone.
4. Tap the contact's name and then their number.
5. To choose a primary emergency contact, tap Emergency Services or a contact in the list of added emergency contacts. Their name card will now be highlighted.

You can also add emergency contacts in the safety app on your Pixel phone.

Remove emergency contacts

1. On Google Pixel Watch, swipe down.
2. Tap Settings Safety & emergency Emergency SOS Manage contacts.
3. Next to the contact you want to remove, tap Delete .

Fall Detection

Fall Detection is available in Pixel-supported countries. If you have Fall Detection turned on and travel to an unsupported region, Fall Detection will be temporarily unavailable.

When a hard fall is detected, your Pixel Watch waits about 30 seconds, then vibrates, rings loudly, and asks if you want to call emergency services² . If you don't respond, your watch vibrates and alarms, then calls emergency services after 60 seconds with an automated voice message.

If you have granted permission to share your location, your Pixel Watch will share your location with emergency services.

Set up Fall detection

On Google Pixel Watch

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety Fall detection.
3. Turn on Fall detection.

In the Google Pixel Watch app

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap  Settings   Safety & emergency Fall detection.
3. Turn on Fall detection.

How Fall Detection helps emergency services get to you

When a hard fall is detected and you don't respond to the alert after 60 seconds, Pixel Watch can share your location in an automated voice message. This message is played to emergency services during the call.

If you enabled Fall Detection and didn't grant Personal Safety "while in use" location permission, update Fall Detection to share your location with emergency services:

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Play Store Manage apps.
3. Update Personal Safety.

Automated voice message example

Use the Pixel Watch app to read an example of the automated audio message that shares your device's location.

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap Safety & emergency Fall detection What the emergency operator hears. You can also speak over the automated voice message during an incident if you choose.

Help improve Fall detection

Share motion sensor data with Google to help improve Fall detection. This data is used to help Google make future improvements to Fall detection for everybody and won't be used for any other purpose. This data won't be tied to your Google account or personally identifiable information.

Tip: You can enable fall detection regardless of whether you choose to help Google improve fall detection or not.

On Google Pixel Watch

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety Fall detection.
3. Turn on Help Improve Fall Detection.

In the Google Pixel Watch app

1. On your phone, open Google Pixel Watch .
2. Tap  Settings  Safety & emergency Safety.
3. Turn on Help Improve Fall Detection.

Emergency Sharing

Emergency Sharing sends your real-time location and updates to your emergency contacts.

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety Emergency sharing.
3. Select the contacts you want to share your location with and tap Share real-time location.
4. To stop Emergency sharing, tap on the Sharing real-time location screen Stop Emergency Sharing .

You can also customize the information to be shared with your emergency contacts.

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety & emergency Emergency Sharing.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Settings.
4. Choose the information you want to share with your emergency contacts during an Emergency Share.
5. Turn on or off Multi-device location sharing⁸.

Safety Check

Allows your watch to set a check-in timer to ensure that you're safe. If you don't confirm that you're okay at the set time, Safety Check automatically shares your location with your emergency contacts.

1. On Google Pixel Watch, press the crown.
2. Tap Safety Safety Check.
3. Select your activity.
4. Set the timer duration.
5. Select the contacts you want to share your location with and tap Start timer. You can decide to let your contacts know when you start or cancel a Safety Check. You can also set Safety Check to notify contacts if you don't respond at the end of the timer. This automatically escalates to an Emergency Share.
6. To stop Safety Check, tap under the time to check-in Stop Safety Check .

Medical information

1. On your phone, open Safety .
2. Tap Your info Medical information.
3. Fill in your medical information. To help in an emergency, people can access this info even with a locked watch.

Important: Samsung users won't have this feature because they have a separate safety app.

Share Emergency Info with emergency services

Use the Personal Safety app to send info to emergency services.

On your phone:

1. Open Safety .
2. Tap Your info Emergency Info access Share during emergency call.

On your watch:

1. Open Safety .
2. Scroll to Emergency Info.
3. Tap Emergency Info access Share during emergency call.

_{¹ Google Pixel Watch operates using radio signals, which cannot guarantee connection in all conditions. Never rely solely on any wireless device for emergency communications.}

_{² Fall Detection works by using motion sensors on your Pixel Watch. Keep in mind, high-impact activities may trigger fall detection. Fall detection can’t detect all falls.}

_{³ Emergency SOS: Emergency SOS requires location enabled and 4G LTE service or an internet connection. Emergency SOS is dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all countries or languages. Go to g.co/pixelwatch/personalsafety for more details.}

_{⁴ Fall Detection: Fall Detection is not available in all countries and depends on network connectivity and other factors. Your watch may not be reliable for emergency communications. Fall Detection may not detect all falls. To call emergency services on a Google Pixel Watch without 4G LTE, your paired phone must be nearby. Users must grant location permission for Fall Detection to share location externally. Data rates may apply. Go to g.co/pixelwatch/personalsafety for more details.}

_{⁵ Safety Signal: Not available on Pixel Watch 2 or 3 (Wi-Fi) or in all countries. Safety Signal requires location enabled and, in cases of emergency, provides Fitbit Premium subscribers without a 4G LTE watch line with access to a 4G LTE network for use of safety features only. When your watch is not connected to your phone, Safety Signal does not support Wi-Fi calling.}

_{⁶ Emergency Sharing: Data rates may apply. Emergency Sharing requires location enabled and 4G LTE service or an internet connection. Emergency Sharing is dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all countries or languages. Go to g.co/pixelwatch/personalsafety for more details.}

_{⁷ Safety Check: Data rates may apply. Safety Check requires location enabled and 4G LTE service or an internet connection. Safety Check is dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications or available in all countries or languages. Go to g.co/pixelwatch/personalsafety for more details.}

_{⁸ When multi-device location sharing is turned on for your device, we will use that device’s location as a backup in the case you start an Emergency Share on another device, but that device can no longer share its location.}

_{Emergency SOS requires location enabled and 4G LTE service or an internet connection. Fall detection and Emergency SOS are dependent upon network connectivity and other factors and may not be reliable for emergency communications and available in all areas or languages. Fall detection may not detect all falls. Auto-dialling to emergency services is not available in all countries. Go to g.co/pixelwatch/personalsafety for more details.}