Pixel 6 Series is Getting Many Fixes This Month

Next week, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro users will get a massive system update that addresses many of the complaints about the devices.

“All supported Pixel devices running Android 12 will receive software updates as part of the December 2021 update, which begins rolling out to users today,” a Google support document notes. “The rollout will continue over the next month in phases depending on carrier and device. The rollout will start on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro later this month.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Basically, Pixel 6/6 Pro users are getting three sets of updates this month: the December 2021 Android security update, the Feature Drop I reported on yesterday, and a massive list of Pixel 6 series updates and fixes.

As Google says, this December update “includes several fixes and improvements across many areas including device performance, stability, connectivity, and more.” Some of the more notable for Pixel 6/6 Pro users include:

General improvements for fingerprint sensor stability and performance. It’s not clear if this is different than the standalone fingerprint sensor fix that Google deployed in November, but there is one new bit:
“additional fixes for issues preventing enrollment of new fingerprints in certain conditions.”

Camera improvements. The December 2021 update will bring many improvements to the Pixel 6 series camera experience, including general image quality improvements in camera preview and capture, general improvements for camera stability and performance, general improvements for auto-focus response in certain capture modes, general improvements for color consistency in viewfinder preview, and a fix for an issue causing a blank viewfinder preview in certain conditions. (I’ve experienced that latter issue on my Pixel 6 Pro.)

Display fixes. Responding to a complaint I made in my Pixel 6 Pro review—“the display will often flash twice as it moves into the always-on mode, which is jarring—this update includes a “fix for an issue causing screen flicker after locking or unlocking the device in certain conditions,” plus one that might be related, a “fix for issue preventing Always-on-display from turning on in certain conditions.” In addition, this update includes fixes for occasional screen flicker during brightness adjustment and an issue that prevents Smooth Display to switch the display refresh rate in certain conditions.

System fixes. I’ve had some weird system freezing issues, including an alarming event when I was out in the world recently, plugged the phone into the car charger, and couldn’t get it to light up the display. This may be the fix: “fix for issue causing the device to freeze after sleeping while charging in certain conditions.” I hope so.

There are several other Pixel 6 series-related fixes coming. Check out the original blog post for that, or for the fixes coming to other Pixel devices.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 5 comments

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    07 December, 2021 - 9:51 am

    <p>Some of those, it is surprising that the phone made it through QA testing, before launch…</p>

    • anoldamigauser

      Premium Member
      07 December, 2021 - 12:37 pm

      <p>QA testing is a quaint relic of the past, it would seem.</p>

  • JerryH

    Premium Member
    07 December, 2021 - 9:54 am

    <p>I went and read the original blog post excitedly as I was hoping they were fixing the two biggest issues I have (and considering the size of the threads on Google support on the two issues, a lot of people have them).</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Device requiring PIN instead of fingerprint nearly all the time claiming it was "manually locked" even though lock on power button is disabled. Yes, I can’t complain about the fingerprint sensor’s speed since I almost never get to use it.</li><li>Device turning the screen on when it is picked up 75% of the time even though all options for this are disabled. Most of the time I am picking it up to put it in my pocket so this one is really annoying as it can cause unintended pocket dialing, etc. especially since I use my FitBit as a trusted device so the phone stays mostly unlocked when connected to my FitBit.</li></ul>

  • ivarh

    Premium Member
    08 December, 2021 - 8:23 am

    <p>I got my pixel 6 pro today and I immediately noticed how slow the fingerprint reader is. I am thoroughly in apple’s walled garden and I would like to sync the photos I take on the pixel to icloud as I don’t want to use googles cloud solutions. Does anyone here know an easy way to do this? It does not look like I can’t connect the phone to my MacBook pro’s USB port to sync pictures that way. </p><p><br></p><p>I also noticed another thing that is annoying (probably since I don’t know how to avoid it happening) is that a lot of times the phone brings up the pin code entry screen when I try to unlock it and I don’t know how to exit back to the fingerprint unlock except by pressing the power on/off button 2 times. </p><p><br></p><p>Also is there a way to store photos in hevc format? I see it stores videos in hevc format but there is no option to store photos in the same format like the iPhone is doing. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • crunchyfrog

    08 December, 2021 - 8:54 am

    <p>Such a large amount of fixes in one update only proves how this phone was released with a large number of known issues that were being worked on but were not completed in time for the phone’s launch.</p><p><br></p><p>For my Pixel 6, I have not experienced most of these issues save for the inconsistent performance of the fingerprint scanner. Often it works just fine but quite frequently it seems to take its time actually authenticating the fingerprint. In general, I have been thoroughly unimpressed with all fingerprint scanner types that reside under the glass. Had Google opted for a more common hardware button that was integrated into the power button, they could have avoided the headaches of this flawed technology and would have been more widely accepted by its user base.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC