Just when you thought the last updates for the year were already rolled out, it appears that some Pixels are getting one last update before the year comes to a close. If your device is eligible, this is an update that you don’t want to ignore.
It fixes some pretty major issues, like faster than normal battery depletion, along with unresponsive touch inputs and unlocks access to locally stored content that wasn’t previously accessible.
You’ll want to download this ASAP
The update is available for the Pixel 8, 9, and Pixel 10, and appears to be rolling out to Verizon and Visible devices. 9to5Google also reports that the update is available in other regions as well. You can see the full notes for the update on Verizon’s website, and we’ve also listed verbatim below.
The current software update addresses the following issues:
- Battery drain: Faster than normal battery depletion.
- Touch unresponsive: Intermittent touch failures observed specifically on Pixel 10.
- Cached content access: Inaccessibility of locally stored content (e.g., offline media, maps) after upgrading from Android 14 or earlier directly to Android 16.
It’s unclear just how widespread these problems are, so there’s also the possibility that this update could roll out to other devices. According to 9to5Google, the update is pretty small, coming in at just 25MB. So you’ll easily be able to download it using mobile data.
The Pixel update that dropped at the beginning of the month also brought some notable fixes as well, like respecting charging limits, removing the question mark status symbol when charging, along with display and audio issues. These updates are a must if you own a Pixel phone.
How to update
In case you weren’t quite sure how to update your Pixel phone, we can walk you through it. You can head into the Settings menu, System settings, and this is where you’ll find the Update section. Once you hit update, it should pull the update its available for your phone. If not, you can always try again later.
Remember, for the time being, this update looks to be just for Verizon, Visible, and phones for other regions. You can also check out Google’s update guide as well. Google did some pretty great things with its software and services this year. Android became fairly polished, despite adding in a ton of AI features. It will be interesting to see where the brand goes from here.
