Google rolling out new charging screen to old Pixel Watches

With the Pixel Watch 3, Google introduced a new charging screen that is now rolling out to older wearables.

The original screen had a more elaborate green animation that ended with a two-line clock. The day and date appear at the bottom, while the percentage is noted above along with a ring.

This new design skips the animation, and leverages a yellow accent for the ring and some other elements. The time is now white.

On the Pixel Watch 3, this new charging screen shows a time-to-full estimate, which appears at the right. There’s a brief loading animation when you activate the screen as it calculates. The Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 attempt to do so, but it currently fails. It’s possible that a future update will address that.

Old vs. new

Instead, you get the date/day (which has been flipped) in its place, while your next timer is shown at the left. If you don’t have a timer set, you get date/day on the left and month on the right.

We’re seeing this new charging screen on Pixel Watch devices updated to Wear OS 5. If you’re not seeing it, make sure all apps are updated and restart your wearable.