The best thing a company can do for its productespecially for its sales numbersis to convince the users that its essential to living. Google is certainly leaning into that narrative with the Pixel Watch 3. This week, Googles third-gen smartwatch received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Loss of Pulse Detection feature, which was announced alongside the smartwatch, though its been dormant pending clearance. Once the feature rolls out later next month, the Pixel Watch 3 can immediately call for help if your pulse goes out. The feature has been available in the E.U. since the smartwatchs debut last fall, but this is the first time its available in the U.S. Loss of Pulse Detection works precisely as advertised: your heart rate goes null, and the Pixel Watch 3 immediately enters emergency mode. It starts a countdown and sounds off an alarm. If you dont respond within seconds, it automatically calls emergency services, provided you set that up beforehand with an Android device. Google says the watch will be able to differentiate between an immediate cardiac event and simply taking off the watch for the day, suggesting that there will be few false positives. Google touts multi-check, an AI-based algorithm that studies the multipath heart-rate sensor for patterns to detect when its genuinely a nuanced situation. The company claims it rigorously tested the algorithm with over hundreds of thousands of hours of data while also cross-referencing it with a diverse range of experts, including cardiologists and high-level emergency medical professionals. I accidentally triggered the Pixel Watchs Fall Detection feature before, though it was on the last generations hardware. It happened when my foot slid down a hill after a poor landing. False positives happen, but thats why theres a few-second countdown and alert so you can call it off when that happens. Regardless, expect Google to market the feature around town, especially since the Apple Watch still cant do this kind of thing.