Google may add an extra step when making emergency calls from the Pixel Watch

The Pixel Watch is one of the best smartwatches you can buy right now, exuding a style that you just won’t find with other brands. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that you’re getting great features and reliable software updates from Google as well. With so much to love, it’s easy to skip over the boring stuff on the watch that you may not use everyday.

But Safety Features is a vital part of the experience that could one day possibly save your life. Being able to contact emergency services or a loved one with the press of a button is crucial. With that said, it looks like that simple action is also making it easy for those to enable the feature by mistake.

When every second counts

If you’re unaware, currently, users are required to press the crown five times quickly in order to activate the Emergency SOS feature. Once this is done, the watch will automatically call emergency services or an emergency contact of your choice. While the gesture is pretty deliberate, it’s easy to see how this can be activated in everyday life without you even knowing.

Now, it looks like improvements could be on the way, as the gesture to activate the Emergency SOS feature could change. As far as how this is going to happen, the folks at Android Authority have discovered that Google could implement an additional gesture, which will require users to touch and press the screen in order to initiate an emergency call.

While this feature isn’t publicly available, the news outlet was able to find references to this in the code of the current version of the Pixel Watch app. Of course, in an emergency, every second counts, so asking people to tap the crown five times, then touch and press the screen for three seconds before you can contact someone might be asking a bit much for some.

The good news is that the current method to activate Emergency SOS isn’t going away. The code shows that the users will be given an option to choose. In addition, Google will also apparently be revamping the current method by adding a five-second delay before emergency services are contacted, which should mitigate most issues.

Unfortunately, since this is all still just in code, and it’s uncertain when this feature will become available. For now, just make sure to be careful, and try not to activate the Emergency SOS feature on your Pixel Watch.