Gear News of the Week: Android Gets Emergency Live Video, and the Pixel Watch 4 Supports Gestures

Just forget to call 911; If you have an Android phone, you can now share live videos directly with the dispatcher. This is a new feature Google announced this week called Android Emergency Live Video, and it’s rolling out to users in the United States, as well as parts of Germany and Mexico, for phones running Android 8 and later with Google Play Services.

This feature becomes available during an emergency call or text, as a dispatcher can send a request to your phone to share live video. You have to tap to accept the request and your phone’s camera will start streaming footage, whether it’s assessing a fallen tree in the road or guiding you through CPR until an ambulance arrives. Google says the feature is encrypted and you can stop sharing the live video stream at any time. You don’t need to do anything to configure the feature.

Courtesy of Google

You can now double pinch on your Pixel Watch

It’s the coolest thing about me, but I love being able to control my smartwatch or fitness tracker without having to push or tap the screen. Apple introduced Double Tap to the Apple Watch in 2023, which draws on learnings from Apple’s accessibility software, called AssistiveTouch. It helped Apple Watch wearers with accessibility issues use gesture-based controls. This year, Apple introduced Wrist Flick to reject calls or turn off timers with WatchOS 26.

Google is now introducing gesture controls to the Pixel Watch 4. These features are named (without any apparent shame) Double Pinch and Wrist Wrap. Like Double Tap, you can use Double Pinch to answer or end calls or pause timers. The Pixel Watch will tell you when Double Pinch might be useful.

These features join Raise to Talk, a wrist gesture that Pixel Watch wearers can use to talk to Gemini. Smart replies on the watch have also been improved. Back when Wear OS was called Android Wear, Google offered a few gestures that let you move your wrist away from you or toward your body to scroll through notifications and tiles. What goes around comes around. —Adrienne So

Apple Fitness+ expands to new markets

Apple’s Fitness+ is an unusual case. This is one of the company’s weakest offers financially, as Bloomberg reports. Leadership of the division was recently handed to Sumbul Desai, head of Apple Health, after explosive allegations that Jay Blahnik, vice president of fitness technology, created a toxic work environment. (Prior to the management shakeup, Apple announced that it was launching an internal investigation into the alleged conduct.) Personally, I’m waiting for Fitness+ to be integrated into the new Health+ app in 2026. I’m tired of not knowing where all my health data is on my iPhone!