Wear OS 6 bug troubles Google and Samsung watch owners

The bug has been bothering Google and Samsung watch owners for months, and a solution has yet to be found.

While software updates usually bring bug fixes and new features, not all of them come without hiccups.

At least that’s what happened to Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy Watch owners who use third-party watch faces. Many are reporting that the latest Wear OS 6 update botched their devices’ displays.

Owners of Pixel Watch 4, Pixel Watch 3, and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 and Ultra models reported that their watches' Always-On Display (AOD) transitions get stuck in between two modes: active and ambient.

It has been revealed that the issue originates from the Wear OS 6 code, rather than the applications themselves.

The bug appears when the device changes the animation during the transition from active to sleep mode, as reported by Piunika Web.

The issue seems to have been occurring since October 2025, when the operating system first rolled out.

Multiple users with Google and Pixel smartwatches shared that the display freezes mid-change, making the device switch between two modes, showing the active watch face, but making it dim as if the AOD version is on, with some elements either disappeared or shown as semi-transparent.

The bug affects only the watch faces of third-party apps. Both Samsung and Google appear to be aware of the problem, but neither company has provided a solution to the issue.

The problem could be related to the new opacity fade for AOD transitions. If display animation is still running at the exact moment the system suspends the screen, the animation never fully finishes, getting stuck between active and ambient modes.

What can users do in this case? It’s been suggested that they can switch the display and put it back on. However, the glitch may recur over time. The same happens with rebooting one’s device.

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