No wireless charging? What is this, an A-series device?
Android 13 is built on the concept of adding some much-needed stability and improvements to last year’s complete overhaul. For the most part, we’re pretty impressed with what Google’s brought to the table this year, but as usual, a handful of bugs have appeared in an otherwise quiet launch. On top of some RCS issues and at least one bricked phone, numerous reports surrounding wireless charging issues on Pixels are starting to pop up on Reddit.
These reports come to us courtesy of 9to5Google, who spotted several users on social media struggling to use wireless charging after their Pixel devices upgraded. While the hardware detects a compatible charger — even powering up for a few minutes, in some cases — it eventually displays a generic “Not charging” message. This issue seems to primarily affect Pixel 4 and 4 XL users, although some reports mention devices as new as the Pixel 6, meaning it’s likely not limited to just one generation. The Pixel Stand — both generations — are mentioned by name frequently, but other users have tried testing their phones on non-Google chargers, only to find the same problems arising.
Obviously, this bug seems to be something spawning from a software issue, not the mass failure of hardware timed to a new update. 9to5Google speculates it’s something to do with how Android controls wireless charging, essentially preventing the phone from powering up even while it’s aware that it’s resting on a compatible pad. An affected Pixel might think it’s reached a charge level that it actually hasn’t, resulting in the situations we’ve seen pop up on Reddit and Google’s own bug tracker. That said, without a concrete explanation from the company, it’s unclear exactly what’s causing this failure.
It doesn’t seem like there’s any concrete fix for this issue right now. One user got their device charging again by trying several steps, including disabling the Pixel Stand app and booting into safe mode, though it’s unclear exactly which process got the device to work. Others have had no luck finding a workaround. Android 13 is only a few days old for stable users, but with any luck, an update to fix these early issues will be out before the end of the month. Otherwise, anyone affected will be stuck plugging their phone in like it’s 2014.
