Leave a bruise or don’t even bother
Haptic notifications are tremendously helpful if you don’t want your ancient Crazy Frog ringtone to go off at the worst moment possible, like during a funeral service. Joking aside, people do seriously rely on those little thumps and patterns of vibrations, so after the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro feature updates dropped this week, some owners discovered an unexpected problem — diminished haptic intensity.
According to Droid Life, one reader noticed the issue right away, and then others began chiming in, saying they had the same problem. They weren’t alone, as comments in the Pixel Phone Help Community and Reddit threads popped up regarding the same issue — too-soft vibrations, weaker thumps from their Pixel 6 devices. Some Redditors seemed to prefer the change or downplay it, but others pointed out that less aggressive haptics can mean missed calls, texts, and alerts.
Droid Life noted that this issue was mentioned a month ago in connection with the beta build of Android 12L and speculated about it being intentional on Google’s part. That said, in a note published March 7, Google listed what was set to be included in this month’s update and under “Sensors” added the following: “Fix for issue causing weaker haptic feedback in certain conditions.” An asterisk and number two beside the note indicated this was intended for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. It really looks like it might have just been an oversight — so unless there’s some kind of patch put out soon, hang on and wait for April to get your punchy old haptic alerts back.
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