Android 13 has been hotly anticipated for months, but following its rollout to Pixel users last Monday, many have been reporting issues with wireless charging. As first spotted by 9to5Google, Pixel owners have been posting their issues to Reddit in hopes of finding a simple community fix, but based on the number of complaints, there seems to be more at work.
While the hope is always that companies like Google will put their best foot forward when launching new software, sometimes new bugs are found after pushing an update globally. If your Pixel is having trouble with wireless charging, don’t worry: you’re not alone.
What does the issue look like?
Luckily, knowing whether your phone may be experiencing the issue is relatively simple. If you can connect your Pixel to a wireless charger of any kind and get juice from it, your Pixel is in good shape. If not, it looks like you may have the bug.
Some comments on the Reddit posts speculate that it could be the result of a faulty wireless charger instead of Android 13. While some people were able to find success in fixing the issue by tweaking some of their wireless charging station’s settings, others had no such luck.
Which Pixel models are affected?
So far, this seems to be an issue across all Pixel devices. Across Reddit, owners of Pixel 4, 4XL, 6, and 6 Pro have all chimed in to say that they’re experiencing issues. In my search, I didn’t encounter anyone complaining about problems with wireless charging on the Pixel 5, but that’s not to say it isn’t happening on that phone. From what it looks like, just about any Pixel that’s currently running Android 13 may be experiencing the issue.
Possible fixes
If you’ve discovered that your Pixel isn’t able to charge wirelessly, there are a few things you can try to fix the issue. The first, as mentioned above, is taking a look at your wireless charger’s settings. Some users reported that their issues were resolved after clearing the storage and cache for the apps associated with their wireless chargers, specifically the Pixel Stand. After doing that and restarting their devices, some commenters claim to have stopped experiencing the issues. Others, however, were still unable to charge wirelessly, as not all chargers have apps to even clear.
Another possible solution would be to re-download Android 12 and wait for Google to solve the issue. This isn’t ideal as only the Pixel 4 and 5 are able to go back to Android 12, and even then, it means that users won’t be able to capitalize on all of the new features that come hand-in-hand with the software update. If you have a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, you’re unable to roll back to Android 12 if you have Android 13 — meaning this isn’t even an option for you.
The third solution is the least involved but possibly the most frustrating: wait until Google fixes the problem. So far, Google hasn’t responded to the issue in any capacity, so it might be a while until an official fix gets pushed. While the company’s silence could simply be because the issue is still relatively new, Google doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to making quick fixes for its software.
Hopefully, the issue gets resolved soon. Because Google is still working on launching Android 13 to all compatible devices, it’s possible that a fix could be coming relatively quickly since a smooth launch for the software update is crucial for its success.
