Google says fix for Pixel 6 Wi-Fi is coming in March update

By Jesse Hollington February 23, 2022

If you’ve been struggling with getting proper Wi-Fi connectivity on your new Pixel 6, you’re not alone, but the good news is that Google knows about the problem and says a fix should be coming next month.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing sporadic reports from Pixel 6 owners dealing with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues. These became more prevalent after installing this month’s security patch, although some folks were experiencing more minor networking issues even before that.

There’s a lengthy thread on Reddit where owners of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have been discussing the issue, with several suggested workarounds that only appear to resolve the problem temporarily, at best.

Fortunately, Google has offered an official response, acknowledging that it’s figured out the problem and determined that it “impacts a very small number of devices.”

“Of course, we realize this is a poor experience and immediately developed a software fix that will be available in the next Google Pixel Update, rolling out in March,” the Google rep added, who goes by the Reddit handle PixelCommunity, while recommending that users contact Google’s support team if they want to “explore other options in the meantime.”

This specific problem appears to result in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth automatically shutting off after locking a Pixel 6 device and then usually not coming back on at all — at least not without manual intervention. Some users have had limited success with restoring their devices back to factory settings, but the problem seems to eventually come back after only a few hours.

The original poster on Reddit also noted that the third beta of Android 12L may also include a fix for the problem, noting that they’ve been using it for several days “with zero issues” and that it otherwise “seems to be quite solid.”

Although we haven’t encountered this problem on our Pixel 6 devices, they do appear to have a unique difficulty connecting to WPA3-protected Wi-Fi 6 networks that we haven’t encountered on any other mobile devices we’ve used. This suggests that Google may still have a few other bugs to work out in its Wi-Fi implementation, and we’re hoping that the March update brings more stability overall.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jesse Hollington

Mobile Writer

Jesse has been a technology enthusiast for his entire life — he probably would have been born with an iPhone in his hand…

Mobile

Your Google Pixel 8 Pro is about to get an incredible update

The Google Pixel 8 Pro laying face-down on a wood bench.

When Google introduced the Google Pixel 8 Pro earlier this year, the company made it clear that it was more of an AI phone than just a regular Android flagship. Now, Google is leaning more into that AI future with a pair of new features based on the in-house Gemini Nano model.

In order to bring Gemini Nano to the Pixel 8 Pro, Google built a new system called Android AI Core in Android 14. It’s the most compact and efficient AI model from Google, operating on Tensor mobile silicon natively. On-device operation means all processes happen locally, which ensures there’s little risk of sensitive information leaving your phone.

Mobile

Google is finally fixing an annoying issue with its Pixel phones

A person holding the Google Pixel 8, showing the back of the phone.

When Android 7.0 Nougat arrived in 2016, Google introduced a new seamless update system that allowed users to keep using their devices while the update was installed in the background. Down the road, Google made it mandatory for all smartphone makers, and it's most prevalent on Google's own Pixel smartphones. But the system was not without its fault — even on the latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro devices.

Now, it seems like the latest Android 14 QPR update has considerably sped things up and fixed problems plaguing the whole update pipeline. What are seamless updates, though? It involves an A/B disk partition strategy, which ensures that you can keep using your phone while an update is installed in the background. The only time you'll notice something's up is when it reboots to switch to the updated version. After an update, rebooting your device is just as fast as a normal restart without much extra waiting.

Mobile

The Google Pixel 8 just got its first update. Here’s what’s new

Holding the Google Pixel 8 Pro in front of a bush.

Google has started seeding a new software update for its Pixel phones, which also happens to be the first one for its latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models The update notes don’t mention the arrival of any new features, but the update does fix crucial problems that users have been complaining about in online forums for months and apply to the Pixel 8 series as well as its predecessors.
At the top of the list is a solution for display- and graphics-related woes, including the problem of “a green flash when the display is turning off in certain conditions.” Google’s post mentions a specific scenario where the green screen issue appears, but users have been reporting it for a while.
Moreover, the “green goblin for Pixels” manifests itself in various ways. One user shared an image of the Pixel 8 Pro on Reddit with a vertical green line running across the screen. Others mention random screen flashing or a permanent tint on the panels, both partial and full-screen. The reports date back at least a couple of years and seem to affect phones as old as the Pixel 6 series.

Previous