Pixel Watch 5 Will Call Emergency Services if It Detects a Breathing Emergency

Google's Pixel Watch 5 now includes a new feature to call emergency services in case of a breathing emergency. The watch uses AI to examine data from its heart rate, motion, and altitude sensors. If it detects a breathing emergency, the user has 30 seconds to cancel the alert before the watch automatically calls for help and notifies emergency contacts.

The feature is currently available in some European countries and will also be available on the Pixel Watch 4 when rolled out. This feature, part of the Pixel's Health Guardian umbrella, detects breathing emergencies by analyzing blood oxygen levels, movement, and environmental factors, such as altitude, which can affect oxygen saturation.

Google's senior product manager for health, Pramod Rudrapatna, explained that these signals are analyzed together by on-device machine learning models to determine if they indicate a potential breathing emergency, while minimizing false alerts. To avoid false positives, the watch will ensure the user hasn't been asleep for more than 30 minutes during the incident.

However, Dr. Lindsey Rosman, an assistant professor of medicine, warns that while the feature can save lives, it may also increase health anxiety and hypervigilance, particularly if it leads to false positives. Users can choose to turn off the feature in their settings. The Pixel Watch 5 is already available for pre-order in the US, though it won't have this feature until a future release date.