Morning Brief on the Pixel Watch 3 is a great idea, but poorly implemented

To be clear, I’m not a morning person by nature, but years of mandatory early waking have taught me to cope with waking up reasonably well. I may have crazy bed hair and definitely won’t be able to see my own hands until I find my glasses, but functionally I’m sticking to the proverbial “up and down.” In other words, I like to start my day with a clip because when I get up, there might be a reason for it. When Google announced the new Morning Brief feature for the Pixel Watch 3, I was excited for a tool that would take me from groggy to caffeinated. Instead, the inconsistency of the new order left me wondering if any smartwatch tool could even activate the snooze function.

The prospect of getting up early is rarely exciting, but health experts say consistency is key. Unfortunately, no one seems to have told Morning Brief about it. Since wearing my Pixel Watch 3 regularly, I’ve experienced several days where I don’t get my knickers until well after I’ve gotten up and started my day, and by “good” I mean hours later.

Considering that the strength of the briefing is that it helps users start the day with useful information, it’s not ideal that it arrives so late. For one thing, I’ve already gotten dressed and no longer need to know what the weather is like (probably because I asked Alexa instead). Second, if I try to do early training (which I often have to do), I’ve probably already mentally committed to it or even started training without being able to glance at my readiness score.

Other mornings I received my Morning Brief but didn’t know it. This is supposedly because the notification doesn’t come with a haptic alert when you have Do Not Disturb turned on, i.e. when your watch is still in bedtime mode, for example. In my experience, the alarm does not always vibrate even if the “DND” function is not activated. According to Google, users should receive a Morning Brief within 30 minutes of waking up. If you miss the text message or notification, you will see a running activity bar on your watch face that will last for another 30 minutes. I’ve seen this indicator once or twice, but not every time I should have. This isn’t just an ego problem either. My colleagues C. Scott Brown and Rita El Khoury both have a Pixel Watch 3 and are seeing similarly inconsistent Morning Brief notifications.

This inconsistency has quickly become a reason to wake up grumpy. I asked a Google spokesperson about the challenges I was facing, and while the team was extremely responsive and helpful, I have yet to achieve a seamless experience. If you’re also facing similar issues, it’s a good idea to make sure your phone, watch, and companion app are all up to date. Again, this didn’t solve anything for me, but it’s worth a try.

Things get even worse when you consider that not everyone can maintain a regular sleep schedule. If you’re prone to waking up in the middle of the night and doom scrolling for a while before falling back asleep, you might get an on-screen briefing long before morning actually comes. Now both your sleep score and your ready screens are useless and you’ll have no guidance later when you actually start your day. Alternatively, if you sometimes get up early to go on an ambitious sunrise hike or catch an early flight, you’ll want this briefing to reach your wrist, even if it’s an ungodly hour.

Against this background, the briefing cannot simply be assigned to a specific point in time. It needs to respond specifically to users actually waking up and getting going. This is by no means easy, but other wearable companies have done it. Apple always wishes me good morning when I wake up, and Garmin’s morning report is also very reliable.

Assuming the delivery issues are eventually fixed through a software update, I’m still not thrilled with Morning Brief even on the best of days. I don’t give myself immediate access to my psyche in the morning lightly. In fact, I maintain my brain power by avoiding my phone until I’ve at least brushed my teeth, tamed my hair, and put on my slippers. If a notification pops up on my wrist asking for my attention first, it must be very useful. In this respect, “Morning Brief” seems half-baked. The most obvious missing data point is a calendar screen. As you go about your day, there are few things more important than knowing what lies ahead. Do I have any meetings today or can I stay in my pajamas for a few more hours (the biggest luxury of working from home)?

Likewise, the weather component of the current model is far too simple. Instead of an overly simplistic forecast, I want more details so I can strategically plan my day. Will it rain all day or later at night? Should I plan my outdoor run for tonight when it’s pouring rain so I can skip it without feeling guilty? These are the crucial details. In general, every aspect of the Morning Brief should be accessible so that users can access additional information at their convenience. If my sleep score is poor, I should be able to quickly figure out where something went wrong overnight. If my weekly training progress is good, I should be able to get more details about what exercises I have done so far. To put it simply, the entire tool should be more useful.

To be clear, I’m not prepared to copy Morning Brief. The tool has a lot of potential. I’m just excited to see how Fitbit develops it to make it even more useful and reliable.