Google Fixed a Massive List of Bugs on Pixel Phones This Month
  • Posted byby Kellen

Google Fixed a Massive List of Bugs on Pixel Phones This Month

In addition to pushing out a Pixel Feature Drop and a regularly scheduled Android security patch today, Google is also using this month’s update to fix a massive list of bugs and other changes to Android 12 for its still-supported Pixel phones. There are fixes and tweaks to everything from apps and audio to Bluetooth, biometrics, WiFi, the cameras, displays, sensors, and more.

A few of the changes that caught my eye are all of the battery and charging improvements, more fingerprint reader improvements on Pixel 6, several camera adjustments on Pixel 6, Adaptive Brightness response time increases, improvements to Quick Tap, fixes for always-on display not turning on, and the 20+ things mentioned in the User Interface section.

Google says they’ve made further changes to the Internet tile and Quick Settings areas, plus they added Material You dynamic theming to the boot screen, which is fun.

Here are examples of the new Internet tile and the new images to use when deciding a display color profile:

Old vs. New Internet Tile (Android 12)

New display color setting example images

What are you seeing that has you excited?

Apps
  • Fix for issue causing Assistant to unintentionally start a phone call in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for stuck or frozen app UI in certain conditions.
Audio
  • General fixes & improvements for audio playback issues in certain apps *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing audio noise in videos captured while using certain phone cases *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing microphone to cut out during calls in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing occasional audio glitch when adjusting volume levels *[P6].
  • Fix for issue occasionally preventing audio playback from speaker in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue preventing Now Playing to search for unrecognized music *[P6].
Battery & Power
  • Additional improvements for battery charging information shown in notification shade *[P4, P4a, P4a 5G, P5, P5a, P6].
  • General improvements for battery & thermal performance in certain conditions.
  • General improvements for wireless charging in certain conditions *[P4, P5, P6].
  • Improvements for alignment detection on Pixel Stand in certain conditions *[P4, P5, P6].
  • Fix for issues occasionally causing incorrect Battery usage accounting to display in Settings.
Biometrics
  • General improvements for fingerprint sensor stability & performance *[P6].
  • Additional fixes for issues preventing enrollment of new fingerprints in certain conditions *[P6].
  • General improvements for face unlock stability & performance *[P4].
Bluetooth
  • General Bluetooth stability improvements for certain conditions *[P4a 5G, P5, P5a].
  • Fix for distorted audio over Bluetooth in certain scenarios *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing Bluetooth to turn on after disabling in certain conditions.
  • Fix for volume adjustment issues with certain Bluetooth audio devices.
Camera
  • General image quality improvements in camera preview/capture *[P6].
  • General improvements for camera stability & performance *[P6].
  • General improvements for auto-focus response in certain capture modes *[P6].
  • General improvements for color consistency in viewfinder preview *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing blank viewfinder preview in certain conditions *[P6].
Display & Graphics
  • Enable ANGLE graphics support library for certain apps and games *[P6].
  • Add additional example images for display color options in Settings.
  • General improvements to keep the screen on after multiple manual wakes.
  • General improvements for Adaptive brightness response in certain conditions.
  • Fix for occasional screen flicker during brightness adjustment *[P6].
  • Fix for issue preventing Smooth Display to switch display refresh rate in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing screen flicker after locking or unlocking device in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for occasional white screen flash after display goes to sleep.
Framework
  • Fix for issue causing app icons to display as pending downloads after installation completes.
  • Fix for issue causing Play store app installation to pause indefinitely in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue occasionally preventing Work Profile setup to complete in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue preventing all settings or apps to be restored from backup during setup in certain conditions.
Media
  • Fix for issue causing system crash during media playback in certain conditions.
Network & Telephony
  • General improvements for network connection stability & performance.
  • Fix for crash in Settings when toggling Airplane mode on certain network configurations.
  • Fix for issue that disabled call features on certain devices or networks in certain conditions *[P6].
Sensors
  • General improvements for sensor stability & response in certain conditions *[P4a 5G, P5, P5a, P6].
  • General improvements for Quick Tap response & performance *[P4a 5G, P5, P5a, P6].
  • General improvements for Auto-rotate response in certain device orientations *[P4, P4a, P4a 5G, P5, P5a, P6].
  • General improvements for Adaptive brightness response in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue preventing lift to wake and double tap to wake in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue preventing Always-on-display from turning on in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue causing unexpected haptics or vibration in certain conditions *[P6].
System
  • Kernel update to 4.9.279 for Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL.
  • Kernel update to 4.14.243 for Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL & Pixel 4a.
  • Kernel update to 4.19.202 for Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5 & Pixel 5a (5G).
  • General improvements for system stability & performance.
  • Fix for issue causing device to freeze after sleeping while charging in certain conditions *[P6].
  • Fix for issue occasionally preventing OTA updates to install.
User Interface
  • Add Material You dynamic theming support for the device boot animation.
  • Improvements for Internet tile in Quick Settings.
  • Improvements for Quick Settings layout in certain device orientations.
  • Fix for issue causing display to stay on during wireless charging *[P4, P5, P6].
  • Fix for issue causing Game Dashboard icon to display over lock screen.
  • Fix for issue causing incorrect colors or theme to display in Quick Settings in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing lock screen icons to display in notification shade in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing notification History & Clear all buttons to occasionally display incorrectly.
  • Fix for issue causing persistent app media controls in notification shade in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing persistent call notification in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing persistent Turn off work apps button in app drawer.
  • Fix for issue causing screen flicker after locking or unlocking device in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing Settings to crash in Conversations menu in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing undismissable Game Dashboard button during gameplay in certain conditions .
  • Fix for issue causing app drawer to scroll to the top after clearing search query.
  • Fix for issue causing certain home screen icons to appear misaligned in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue enabling Quick Settings toggles to be tapped from home screen in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue hiding date or time in Quick Settings in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue occasionally causing blank background on home screen after setting wallpaper.
  • Fix for issue occasionally causing Quick Settings to pull down after unlocking device.
  • Fix for issue occasionally causing UI elements to display with transparent backgrounds.
  • Fix for issue occasionally displaying Work Profile badge icon on personal apps or contacts.
  • Fix for issue preventing conversation bubble to be dismissed in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue preventing search results to display in Settings in certain conditions.
  • Fix for occasional screen flicker in notification shade when dragging from top of screen.
  • Fix for occasional flickering when quickly switching between apps in certain conditions.
Wi-Fi
  • General improvements for Wi-Fi stability & performance.
  • Fix for issue that would occasionally disconnect device from Wi-Fi in certain conditions *[P6].

// Google

Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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34 Comments

  • This had better include a fix for Android 12 battery drain on older Pixels. They really dropped the ball with Android 12, and if this is how they treat existing customers I’m not buying another phone from them anytime soon.

  • The update process won’t even finish for me. It’s at about 2/3 finished with “optimizing your device). It’s been stuck at that level for a few hours. The entire update to Android 12 went faster.

  • Good Gosh that’s a lot of fixes! Personally, I do need my tap to wake fixed, my Pro has stopped charging on the OG Pixel Stand altogether, I have persistent call notifications, and my fingerprint scanner can be improved. Hopefully this update will correct all of those things. I can’t say yet, though, since my 6 Pro has not received the update yet, despite my 4XL getting it this afternoon.

  • That’s a huge list, here’s to hoping somewhere buried in there it actually allows us to go back to .5x?

    Tell ya what though, battery life needs no adjustment, still can’t believe how good it is on this p6, I often finish a day with 70%..crazy good battery life, even beats put my S21U easily.

    • According to the many reviews I’ve seen your claim of good battery life seem to not be typical at all. It’s pretty bad from what I’ve seen. Especially when not on wifi. That’s why I decided to skip.

      • I have to admit I was quite skeptical of the endurance on the P6Pro after reading all the tanking reviews of the battery life, but I’ve been wholly impressed with this phones battery life I don’t sit at 70% but it’s quite comfortably getting me through a day, I’m a heavy user as well. I have had every pixel and even a note 1p+ and this is definitely turning out to be one of my best battery experiences, I honestly thought I was going to get some abysmal battery life, just based off my general experience with phones like the pixel 5 even struggling to get through the whole day for me but the p6pro has impressed so far.
        I was pretty much always on 5g for this entire week and I can’t complain.
        Even when at home I’d turn off wi-fi(move to Australia and you’ll understand).

        But there’s definitely room for improvement in the standby drain department as the adaptive connectivity doesn’t actually seem to be working.

      • I get phenomenal battery life with the 6 Pro. Easily lasts a day, and if I pushed it, I could get a day and a half. I am a heavy phone user as well.

        • Then I guess you and I have a very different idea of what “phenomenal battery life” means. Even on wifi the Pixel 6 Pro battery life has shown to be not even as good as the Pixel 5. Due to the much less efficient cellular modem of the Pixel 6 phones battery life on mobile data is even worse.

          For me to consider a Pixel 6 Pro the battery life needed to not only be better than the Pixel 5 but WAY better than the Pixel 5. It isn’t.

  • This is such an awful tease to Pixel 6 owners.

    “Hey here are all these fixes you wanted but we’re going to make you wait even longer lol”

  • Still haven’t fixed the Widevine L3 downgrade issue. Google is just flat out ignoring it and hoping people won’t notice. It would be nice if their 13 month neglect of this issue would be picked up by the tech media again.

  • Question; Anyone having any issues with phone calls on the 6pro? I’ll be using this as a work phone so I spend a lot of time making calls. Thanks for the help!

  • I hope they fix the autofocus on close-up shots because at this point the pictures are amazing about 75% of the time. My Pixel 2 was amazing at 100% of the time.

    • Yep! It is! This big fix list actually impresses me, because the bugs fixed are almost entirely so minor.
      It makes Google look highly responsive even to minute tailoring.

      I will be even more impressed — if they can keep up this rate of fixes. If they can, Google will soon have – undeniably – the worlds best OS.
      To go along with the worlds biggest database and most popular search engine.

      Let’s see how much Apple did to fix customer problems or implement improvements in Apples last list.

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