When Google launched the Pixel 8 Pro last fall, it was all too easy to dunk on the phone’s temperature sensor. Not only did it seem like a feature leftover from a pandemic-fueled quest to shoehorn health-focused tech into any and all consumer products, but the tool wasn’t even capable of living up to its intended task. Instead, Google shipped it as a sensor capable solely of measuring object temperature — coffee mugs, bottles of water, other materials like fabric or rubber — alongside the promise of a pending FDA approval for body readings. With last week’s feature drop, Google made good on its promise from last fall, and the temperature sensor suddenly became a whole lot more useful.
As much as I dunked on this thermometer in my Pixel 8 Pro review last fall — deservedly so, if you ask me — the addition of body temperature readings obviously makes this a whole lot more useful. If you have kids, it’s obvious enough, but I think this applies to a broader selection of people than you might think. As someone who travels quite a bit for work, the idea of a thermometer always in my pocket is actually pretty appealing. I can’t tell you the number of times exhaustion has caught up to me, and I’ve struggled to figure out if I’m running a low-grade fever or if the airport I’m stuck in is just a little too hot.
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It’s why my toiletry bag now includes a basic oral thermometer, but the promise of the Pixel 8 Pro’s sensor guarantees an even more convenient experience — assuming, of course, that it’s accurate and easy to use. Well, with my new mint Pixel 8 Pro in hand, I took the temperature sensor for a spin, comparing it to the digital ear thermometer I keep at home. Although my initial impressions left me feeling a little chilled (or maybe that’s just the fever talking), I still think there’s some value to this tool. I just wouldn’t throw away your dedicated thermometer just yet.
Practice makes perfect
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The overall experience is as overwhelming as you might expect for something that took months post-launch to get FDA approval. You’ll need to make sure you’re running an updated APK and have a US-based SIM to get the full experience, but that’s not all. Google is very specific in showing you a number of warnings and timed guides to ensure you know exactly what its thermometer is capable of and how to use it properly. I actually found these guides a little intimidating — not in the sense of misunderstanding how to use it in the first place, but rather making it feel like the scan would be all too easy to mess up.
Once it’s time to actually take your temperature, it’s all about practice. Doing this to yourself is a lot more awkward than, say, a parent scanning their child’s forehead, but it’s still possible. You start the thermometer and hold the sensor fairly close to your forehead, waiting for the app to tell you when you’re in the right position. This was particularly awkward the first couple of times I tried it, which might explain my low readings. Once your Pixel is ready, you move the phone over to your temple at a slow-and-steady pace. And that’s it — you have a reading.
My control for these first few scans was 98.4 degrees, a reading gathered from my usual ear thermometer. Although initially well below this number, once I got more comfortable with where the sensor needed to be on my forehead, it was only about half a degree off. And I was writing this, the sensor got even closer on a follow-up test, just .2 degrees less than the dedicated gadget. That’s close enough that I’d feel fairly confident in its readings; if I had a fever of 100.1 degrees, a scan falling between 99.7 and 99.9 would absolutely tell me something was off.
Just reliable enough to be trusted
I’m not sure I’m going to ditch the thermometer in my carry-on — it’s light and small enough that, frankly, it doesn’t make sense to leave behind — but it won’t need to take up space in my backpack when I’m leaving my hotel room for the day. Still, this sensor seems about in line with any run-of-the-mill forehead thermometer (and Google seems to think it’s even better), which certainly beats my expectations.
The earliest renders for the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro seem to imply Google isn’t giving up on its thermometer any time soon — perhaps even doubling down by adding it to the smaller model — though it’s always worth taking those leaks with a grain of salt. For a company so often willing to ditch features (hardware or otherwise) after just one or two generations, it’d be a surprising move. Still, I have to say, for as cynical as I felt about the thermometer at launch, it’s a better tool than I ever could’ve hoped for.
The Pixel 8 Pro’s weird thermometer actually managed to beat my extremely low expectations
