Google Pixel 4a's old firmware is gone, trapping users on buggy battery update
369 comments
·January 29, 2025OliveMate
chasil
Unless your Pixel 4a is from Verizon (locked), keep it.
Unlock the bootloader, then install LineageOS, MindTheGapps, and Magisk.
Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%.
That should solve your problems, and turn the updates back on. I don't think there is a way to make Google Pay work in this configuration, which is a drawback.
I can put all the URLs here if you ask.
Edit:
[I did not remember that Lineage hosts gapps images]
https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps/
[IIRC, the APK is renamed to a ZIP and flashed with recovery, then name it back and install the app]
kees99
Problem with pretty much every modern battery-powered device is that battery is flogged to near death at every charge. From @marcan's mastodon post, Pixel 4a's battery is charged to 4.45V:
qcom,max-voltage-uv = <0x43e6d0>;
As for charge limiting... limit at 80% is an okay workaround (certainly better than no limit at all!), but it's far from perfect. Namely, with this approach, charge controller chip doesn't know cut-off is coming, and will shove several amperes into the battery until last second, thus overshooting safe voltage level. This wears the battery (less so than with no limit, but still more than necessary).
Battery charging limiting should be done by voltage: this way, controller chip knows where to stop, so it makes soft taper-off at the end of charge cycle, by gradually nudging current down to stay within voltage envelope.
Charging profile could be observed from a rooted adb console:
grep NOW <$(find /sys/devices/platform \
| grep battery/uevent$ | head -1)
chasil
Thank you for sharing your expertise.
It seems to be unbelievable that none of this has become part of AOSP.
I should have a battery setting that optimizes either for battery longevity, or for maximum power delivery. These settings should incorporate best practice, such as you have outlined.
The last stable ACC release was in late 2023, and it appears to remain the best battery management tool for longevity.
Why is this so?
I rewrote your script slightly, and ran it on my Pixel 3.
find /sys/devices/platform |
grep battery/uevent$ |
head -1 |
xargs grep NOW
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_NOW=3955800
POWER_SUPPLY_CURRENT_NOW=-222656
find /sys/devices/platform -name uevent |
grep battery |
head -1 |
xargs grep NOW
find /sys/devices/platform \
-path '*/battery/*' \
-name uevent |
head -1 |
xargs grep NOWgruez
>Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%.
That will reduce future wear, but won't suddenly make the battery better. If anything it'll make the battery even worse, at least in the short term.
chasil
Installing Lineage by itself will drastically reduce power consumption on many devices, as vendor bloat is wiped. A net gain is possible, even with ACC 80% in place.
With a Pixel, there is less bloat, so it is less of a factor with this particular device. However, you don't get the full suite of Chrome/Maps/Gmail/Drive/Photos/etc. installed by default, and what you have not installed will not drain your battery.
In any case, one would hope that Google's safeguards are equaled by ACC.
JudasGoat
My 4a went from 3 day battery life to less than a day, immediately after the "update".
tlamponi
> https://magiskmanager.com/
[0]: https://www.xda-developers.com/psa-magiskmanager-com-not-off...
beretguy
> I can put all the URLs here if you ask.
I'm not who you replied to but can you please do? I've been wanting to make a LineageOS device for a while but was being cheap (and it wasn't high enough priority). But maybe now there will be a lot of cheap Pixel 4a on eBay in the near future and I'll go for it.
chasil
Just be careful that you do not get anything sold by Verizon, as these unfortunates do not allow bootloader unlocking.
I also remember some rumor that all Pixels must access WiFi before they will allow bootloader unlocking in the developer options.
sharpshadow
That defeats the whole point of a Pixel, the camera app.
chasil
A URL can be found below to load it back into your custom ROM, and supposedly the same camera can be found in the Play store.
burningChrome
>>> Unlock the bootloader, then install LineageOS, MindTheGapps, and Magisk.
Unless you have researched this and are comfortable doing these things, this is not something that's easy to do. I bricked my OnePlus Nord100 not once, but TWICE trying to install Ubuntu Touch.
It happened because the Nord100 shipped with a more current Android version (11.xx) and Ubuntu can only be installed over two very specific versions (10.xx) on the Nord. I bricked it once thinking it could be installed over the 11 version. Then I had to figure out how to reflash the phone back to the 10 version, then run the UBports installer.
I was lucky because I bought the Nord100 for like $50 on ebay so it wasn't a big deal if I wasn't able to unbrick the phone, but if you do this to a more expensive phone, the consequences are a lot more expensive.
I love Lineage OS and have it running on a Pixel 4XL, but my experience flashing and re-flashing the phone several times, and all the work I went into just to get UT running on that phone, really dampened my enthusiasm to ever do this again.
chasil
I've loaded Cyanogenmod on the HTC Incredible 1 & 2, and the BN Nook color.
I've loaded Lineage on the Nexus 6, Oneplus 3a & 5 & Nord N200, the original Pixel, and the Pixel 3a XL.
Pixels are the most forgiving, and the hardest to brick. They are also the best for VoLTE.
I also have an N100, which is not supported by Lineage.
Lammy
Do I misunderstand what Ubuntu Touch is? I thought it was its own thing whose only relation to Android was the BSP, not some type of layer on top of Android. If so then it seems irrelevant and unfair to bring up w/r/t the well-tested Android-to-different-Android path.
aquasync
Thanks for the info! My pixel has already applied the update unfortunately - any ideas if switching to lineageos is still helpful in that case?
They’re not offering the free battery replacement in Aus otherwise I’d do that - hard to be sure that getting a new battery in a local repair shop wouldn’t be similarly affected by the new limits (presumably some sort of blacklist on serial numbers?).
sangnoir
Installing Lineage should help battery life. @marcan[1] dissected the new update and puts the blames an overlay in the new kernel that changed the charge voltage.
1. https://social.treehouse.systems/@marcan/113914172433692339
chasil
The new battery behavior is probably just some POSIX userspace process running under Linux, or perhaps some kernel tweak.
The whole of userspace will be replaced when LineageOS reformats all of the partitions.
It is possible that the new battery behavior has been injected into some deeper part of the hardware, but LineageOS is unlikely to make that worse.
conaclos
> Once you have Magisk stabilized, install the Advanced Charging Controller, and configure it to halt charging at 80%.
If we install LineageOS, should we worry about Google's firmware update? Then why bother with all these steps?
saidinesh5
I think the comment is responding to the fears of..
"My most charitable view is that Google have found a major fault with the Pixel 4a battery and want to mitigate a repeat of the Galaxy Note 7 without saying it outright and causing a panic."
These lithium batteries usually last longer when you don't fully discharge them and fully charge them regularly. 20-80%. No idea why manufacturers don't just call that range as 0-100%.
1vuio0pswjnm7
"Either of these are terrible. At no point has Google came out and stated -why- they're pushing this update in the first place."
As I can still remember the days of software before "updates", I am still baffled by the always unsolicited "advice" amounting to "always update" without even considering what's in an "update". This "advice" is everywhere. Software quality control is at all-time lows I guess. Then came "automatic updates", decreasing the chance of computer user discretion even more, effectively removing user choice, i.e., case-by-case decision-making.
Perhaps some computer users, the rare ones who do not routinely follow unsolicited "advice" blindly, might respond to the question of updating with something like, "What choice do I have?" That there is no meaningful choice, or perception thereof, in deciding whether to install an "update" is not a coincidence, methinks.
Maybe updating is a gamble. There are winners and losers. On several occasions, I have won by not updating, i.e., blindly installing more code from so-called "tech" company without being to peruse the code. Other times I have gotten lost by updating. It seems that quite often the "updates" include code that serves me no benefit and in fact reduces the computer's utility to me. Meanwhile, it might increase utility for others or for the so-called "tech" company that collects data and sells ad services. One size does not fit all. Sometimes the losses can outweigh the gains, if any.
Hopefully there is a lawsuit filed over this Pixel 4a "update". Through discovery we may be able to learn what happened.
pxmpxm
> always update
There's seems to be an army of aspiring CVE bros cargo-culting this idiocy; they pretend to live in a parallel universe where state-sponsored intelligence groups are spending millions to get at the cat photos on their phones.
Obviously the premise that you should just blindly update a device where you have no recourse if the update breaks workflow/functionality/user experience (android, ios) or tries to monetize the hardware you actually own (msft) is prima facie stupid.
Gigachad
There have been quite a few real world examples of malware scanning the internet and just infecting every vulnerable device it can find. Though this mostly only affects things directly exposed like routers or servers.
mathstuf
> At no point has Google came out and stated -why- they're pushing this update in the first place.
The cynic in me recommends that anyone contributing to Google (or really any big tech company) projects to use "bug fixes and performance improvements" or "What's new:" (with an empty body) as commit messages and refuse to update them until we get useful changelogs for app updates.
Suppafly
>My least charitable view (and immediate reaction) is that they're purposely ruining a viable budget phone to make more sales.
My wife was using a pixel 4 until last year and upgraded to a 7, I took her old phone and switched it over to my info and used it for like 2 days before it got a random update and refused to ever work again. Her 7 just got an update a couple of days ago and the battery went dead and it refused to boot until it'd been plugged in for an hour and then would only boot into recovery mode before finally returning to normal. I think google just has something really screwed up with their update process.
Rastonbury
Google pixel software is horrendous, shocking honestly for a company with Google capabilities. Bought pixel 6 at launch, could not take calls after an update (the speaker would just emit a high pitch tone 15s after connecting, I had to ask people to call me using messaging apps for a while, lucky I did not rely on my phone for work) and wifi would switch off by itself randomly and needed to restart phone to get it working again. Had to update to beta build to get these fixed. For my model and others, it seems like every update or 2 there are populations that hit the forums with battery drain issues. I will never buy a pixel ever again.
KORraN
Great comment, even though I'm concerned whether my Pixel is a ticking bomb now. The update has been downloaded to my device, but before installing it, I decided to check Reddit and found out the battery issues. Since then, I'm dismissing the update prompt, praying to not miss-click.
The article got it wrong - even before the update has been published, Google already sent e-mail to registered users with a note that the upcoming update may reduce battery life and offered either battery replacement or money: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15701861 But the results people post are way beyond anyone expected.
BoorishBears
Google products have consistently been timebombs. I recall the Nexus 7 which had storage that would grind to an unusable halt after a few years.
They don't have the culture or the integration to properly support old devices the way Apple can. Everyone vilified Apple for CPU governers that extended device life by underclocking instead of browning out... this is the kind of behavior that would have deserved the backlash they got.
But the bar is so low with Google and Android devices in general that the outrage will be limited.
BoorishBears
https://9to5google.com/2025/01/30/pixel-android-voluntary-ex...
> Google today announced a “voluntary exit program” for employees working in the Platforms & Devices group.
As if to make my point.
QuantumGood
The repair places have been overwhelmed; I've had three apppoints to replace my wife's 4a battery that have been cancelled because they ran out of stock due to huge unexpected demand.
kllrnohj
> My least charitable view (and immediate reaction) is that they're purposely ruining a viable budget phone to make more sales.
Given the legal & regulatory trouble Apple got in and is currently in depending on jurisdiction for doing this, it seems highly unlikely Google would have picked now to attempt the same thing. Especially since it's literally a single device, and even the sibling 4a 5g didn't get the same treatment.
The silence is inexcusable, though.
scarface_74
Apple did not “do this”. Apple ole didn’t ruin a perfectly good phone with an update. The throttling they did on phones with old batteries kept them from shutting off completely.
jpalawaga
They basically did the same thing, which is why there was a lawsuit. It's also why Google preemitively offered users free money--it was informed by the lawsuit against Apple for the same shit.
kristopolous
I am still on a 4a.
I really hate how in subsequent generations, they faithfully cloned Apple's design decisions of removing ports and making the device gigantic.
"For customers who are dissatisfied with iphones,
Our product is a slightly different iphone-like device."
I mean come on now, what the hell...
About twice a decade google makes a good phone and the others are just iphone knockoffs
lynndotpy
I feel this a lot. Android's used to differentiate themselves from iPhones by having useful technical features at a competitive price. I used to be die-hard pro-Android, but now I can find very few reasons to buy one.
Now the Android UI is sparse and wobbly, Androids lost call recording, sideloading is limited, and they raised their prices to cost as much as iPhones.
Meanwhile, iPhones got call recording, they opened up NFC (a bit) and they support CalDAV and CardDAV and SMB natively in its built-in apps. The "control center" on iOS is customizable, to the point they do what Android's quick tiles did before 2020 or so.
It's very frustrating-- I wish they still made Androids like they used to :(
homebrewer
This comment equates Android with Google phones for some reason. The complaints have nothing to do with Android — side loading is light years ahead of Apple (and third party application stores can finally automatically update applications). Call recording works fine on my friend's Xiaomi 14T (I think) that he bought just a couple of weeks ago, and it works fine on my own device that's on latest Lineage (Android 15). There's lots of choice in UI depending on which vendor you're going with; I'm fine with stock Lineage (i.e. stock Android). There's lots of choice price wise (even the homeless have smartphones these days), while the cheapest iPhone costs about two median monthly salaries here.
Just don't buy anything from Google, they've always screwed something up.
spencerflem
Same- I stick with them out of spite, since I refuse to use a device that doesn't allow replacing the OS or installing your own software ("sideloading")
But they're pretty clearly worse as phones and I'll go to my grave mad about the headphone jack.
m463
I think this is something apple doesn't realize.
They used to have a really good human factors/ui team. I remember Bruce Tognazzini and reading his blog.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Tognazzini
I think I noticed around ios 7 things were getting bad. buttons didn't look like buttons, on-screen controls started being hidden, and form trumped function. Then like you said, ports disappeared and to me "do the wrong thing correctly" started winning.
but the worst thing is that apple sets an example. The same "simplify for sales, but not usability" technique has happened to countless other products in many industries. all laptops have elegant looking keys that have no curve to fit and center your fingers. Tesla cars have a pleasing-looking design, but when you drive them, you can't lean on the touchscreen to hit targets, you don't have drive selection or turn signal stalks to help you get into a parking space easily, and "elegant simplicity" is "cost cutting for the peons".
sigh.
kristopolous
Really I think technology lines can also suffer from Gramsci's interregnum.
brailsafe
Did the 4a have anything other than an aux port? I definitely still miss it, having moved onto a Pixel 7, but on the other hand I've also mostly stopped listening to anything with headphones from it. In surprising fashion, the fact that my screen is still intact and I feel pretty comfortable watching videos in the shower has proven more valuable.
silon42
Also the OS is copying Apple, making it worse.
brailsafe
Nah the OS is way better than iOS, unless you're joking about the update retroactively degrading the device.
nullc
kristopolous
Yes but these are physical locations, not personal objects.
The reason I don't choose a hotel 500 miles away is fairly obvious.
This also applies to parking lots for the same reason...
I think it's just cargo culting products. Apple made electronics sexy fashion accessories through their marketing, advertising and branding.
The problem is the misattribution of their success to the poor choices they have the customer loyalty to get away with.
Nobody has said "well thank God my new MacBook has no ports" or "I'm glad my battery isn't removable". The support column for these decisions is empty.
j1elo
I'm (we all are) constantly reminded to update our phones to latest available updates, but sh*t like this is what teaches users to instead disable and ignore updates indefinitely, under the premise of "if it works don't touch it" (addendum: "... because most probably an update will break it")
And here I am, ignoring updates on my Pixel 6a since October 2024 (there were reports of crashes or bricking, what a surprise) and planning to keep doing that for the foreseeable future.
Sucks having to choose between a potentially (even likely, seeing the trend) broken device or an unsecured one. Pick your poison.
hysan
I was visiting my parents for the holidays and came across this exact mindset. I usually push them to update for security, but I learned that they stopped doing that this year. Apparently some update broke/removed/changed an accessibility feature on their phone in a way that I couldn’t figure out how to revert. My mom had updated her phone first so only she was affected. My dad now refuses to update his phone and both of them have completely stopped updating for fear that something else will “break”. I can’t really blame them, but it does worry me and now I’m trying to think of what I can do to secure their devices if they’re not going to update.
ryandrake
The software industry has known how to do this for a very long time, but some companies refuse to do it. You maintain a "sustaining" branch just for security and other legitimately urgent fixes, and a main branch for everything else. Users are nudged more strongly to apply the sustaining fixes and the main update branch should be optional.
We have immensely powerful version control and branching at developers' disposal, much better than at any past time I can think of. Yet, most companies insist on having a single release that increments, and users must take everything or nothing whenever they update.
Phone/OS manufacturers are actually better than most, and both major operating systems do provide security updates in parallel with major (feature) updates, but only for a very short amount of time.
kevincox
But it isn't this simple, because you wouldn't need a single "maintaining" branch. You would need one for each feature release that the user may stop at.
So if you release the feature branch every 3 months after a few years you will have a dozen maintaining branches to backport fixes to, and in which to carefully test that the fix actually works. The problem is linearly worse if you release the feature branch more often.
xethos
Frankly, even the scarequotes around break feel misplaced. Your Mom can't use the device like she wants to. An accessibility feature is gone to the point you can't get it back. That feels pretty broken to me.
hysan
Yeah, you’re probably right. I just wanted to write my anecdotal experience in a way that would avoid the “you’re holding it wrong” crowd because the point is how this leads to broken trust, not whatever broken feature it is.
OsrsNeedsf2P
Google 4a user here. They pushed an update while I was on a ski trip in Korea - I updated an hour before getting on my bus and.. the application launcher started crashing on unlock. I couldn't open any apps.
Thankfully, I was able to get into the settings and switch to Lawnchair without a working "desktop UI", but without a second application launcher I would have been totally screwed. I checked the Play Store afterwards and saw hundreds of people with the same issue.
On Linux I can choose which "security" updates to install, and only install those. Why can't Windows and Android provide such a feature?
TonyTrapp
Stuff like this is why I keep printing entrance tickets and the like. I don't want to end up in a situation where I have to trust software that is known to have new bugs every months to get into a place without any sort of backup.
Suppafly
>Stuff like this is why I keep printing entrance tickets and the like.
I almost got completely screwed by my pixel updating right before a concert while I was already out of town. Luckily my wife was able to login to my computer and forward the tickets to someone else that I was with, but it was a close call because she was walking out the door to do something herself when I managed to get ahold of her.
sidewndr46
This works until you start attending events that require you to present your cell phone for entrance
kllrnohj
> Why can't Windows and Android provide such a feature?
Windows does.
Android "can't" because the OS is a partition image with libraries not intended to be updated piecemeal, not a collection of loosely related external projects like Linux is.
AnthonyMouse
Nothing actually requires Android to be that way. They chose poorly but every new release is an opportunity to fix it.
Suppafly
>Google 4a user here. They pushed an update while I was on a ski trip in Korea - I updated an hour before getting on my bus and.. the application launcher started crashing on unlock. I couldn't open any apps.
I had that happen like a year ago while I was getting ready to go to a concert in another state. Luckily I was able to call my wife have her login to my gmail and forward my digital tickets to someone else in my party.
eldaisfish
Nonsense like this is why I personally will never buy a google hardware product ever again.
It is also why it is so difficult to recommend an android phone because of google being an advert company first.
Freak_NL
The other side of the coin is that the Pixels are one of the few (only?) devices supported by GrapheneOS.
(My Pixel 6 is rock solid on that by the way.)
ycombinatrix
apple is an advertising company too. what's the alternative?
spencerflem
It's crazy- I feel like outside of videogames, and sometimes programming languages, almost every single "update" makes things worse.
They shuffle the UI around, or put in more ads, or recently- add some new AI feature. Genuinely can't remember the last OS or App update I've been happy about.
Makes me sad to think of all the developers working long hours just to make their users upset.
behnamoh
The way Google botched the Android 11 update to my Pixel 4a was the nail in the coffin in convincing me to go back to iPhone. I don't want to upgrade my Android and see a totally different UI every single time. I want consistency and I don't want Google to mess with things that already work. This is very childish on their side and just shows that Google engineers and managers don't use their own products.
ycombinatrix
>I don't want Google to mess with things that already work.
Unfortunately, that is exactly how Google rewards performance internally
floydnoel
I wonder how long it will take for users to stop trusting anything from G..
2OEH8eoCRo0
I think security updates are mostly BS designed to make users voluntarily give up control. Almost nobody would ever be affected by these CVEs but the ceding of control affects everyone.
StressedDev
If you ignore updates, you will get hacked. If you think a bad update is a problem, wait until you have to clean up a hack. It will cost more money and take more time than buying a new phone.
My advice is to buy phones from reputable manufacturers. I have had an iPhone for over 10 years and I have been very happy. The work well, last, and the performance is always good. My current goal is to keep my current phone 7 years. I will update it when Apple stops supplying updates.
fsflover
> My advice is to buy phones from reputable manufacturers.
You mean those slowing down your phone on updates [0] and not providing critical security updates in time [1] while not allowing existing more secure alternative browsers [2]?
The true alternative is phones running mainline Linux. Sent from my Librem 5.
[0] https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay...
StressedDev
My iPhone is over 5 years old and has not slowed down. When Apple did slow down phones, it was because the battery was aging and it could not produce enough power to power the CPU at full speed. Apple had two choices:
1) Reduce the CPU speed so the phone did not crash 2) Not reduce the CPU speed and let the phone crash when the battery could not produce enough power.
I think Apple made the right choice.
scarface_74
You realize the other option was your phone shutting off entirely?
deng
You can revert this if you unlock your bootloader:
https://xdaforums.com/t/undo-the-january-2025-update-without...
(EDIT: Just to be clear, and which is also mentioned in that post: unlocking the bootloader will reset the device. If your device is already unlocked though, you will be able to keep the data.)
Of course, I would just advise to switch to LineageOS directly, since Google has stopped providing security updates for the Pixel 4a already in August 2023. I've run LineageOS for years on the Pixel 4a and it has worked pretty much perfectly for me:
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sunfish/
Android 15 (LineageOS 22) was just released for it.
josephcsible
Be careful about doing that. Google announced that starting tomorrow, they're going to be remotely wiping all Pixel 4a's that aren't running the new update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel4a/comments/1id6zw8/attention_...
rjmorris
Google didn't announce anything. That's a message from a customer support rep to a single individual.
throw-the-towel
How the hell is this even legal?
ianbooker
How is the photo quality? I love the pictures from the old 12MP sensor + Googles software, but I understand this is not in Lineage?
Zak
The Pixel camera app is available from the Play Store, and there are third-party ports of Gcam to other devices that offer extra configuration options. https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/
j1elo
I'd also be interested to know if a Google Camera app installed post-facto to LineageOS is compatible with the remote control & viewfinder of the Pixel Watch.
deng
Well, they are good enough for me, but to be honest, I'm not particularly picky... As said in a parallel post, you can get GCam in APK form (I run LineageOS without GApps) but I hear it's a bit trial&error to find one that works and I haven't bothered.
nunez
Loved the photos from my 4a when I had it many years ago.
Videos, on the other hand...
wobfan
There's a nice video about this from Louis Rossmann [1] that talks about this in detail and tries to find some reasons for it, and he seems to suggest that the update was never about improving the battery life as in getting more usage per charge out of the battery, but improving it as in limiting the battery full charge capacity to minimize potential problems with it, because he (and others) assume that they identified bad batches and are trying to fix potential problems with them by limiting it.
NotPractical
If you prefer reading over watching (thanks @MaximilianEmel): https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Pixel_4a_Battery_Perform...
tonymet
He's a great advocate for right-to-repair . we have a crisis that few people are concerned about.
netghost
This destroyed my phone, and their appeasement process was terrible too. There was no way for me to find out whether there was a supported repair shop nearby, the $50 cash was apparently through a very dodgy company, and then $100 google store credit didn't disclose that it's "upon review within three weeks" until after you irrevocably chose the option.
The whole thing is ridiculous and poorly handled. Sadly, if my phone had just cracked or failed to turn on, I'd probably have upgraded happily and moved on with my life. As it is, now I feel like something was taken from me. So it goes
chasil
Here is a map of the stores:
https://images.ctfassets.net/d9ybqgejqp0w/7hP2z3Oyn8xH4TvFJt...
You can schedule an appointment here:
A retired coworker got a 4a off eBay two years ago, and it's eligible for a free battery replacement.
malfist
Ars reporting says the $50 cash option's vendor charges a $30 annual fee if you don't close your account after getting paid.
s4i
I was a Nexus/Pixel user for 10+ years. Majority of the phones I owned during that time had some quirks or issues. The worst examples were Nexus 5X and Pixel 5 – both just suddenly froze one day, shut down, and never turned back on again. After that Pixel 5 surprise I grudgingly switched to iPhone 12 mini.
I still think Google’s Android UI is the best one out there for me, and I despise a lot in the iPhone UX (such as the keyboard) but I just need a phone that works and I can get repaired or replaced easily if I need to. At least in Finland, Google’s customer service has been abysmal over the years.
mottalli
I received the email from Google notifying me of this "battery performance update" for my Pixel 4A which actually drains the battery faster, so it left me scratching my head wondering what a "performance update" is for Google.
After the update, my battery was depleted at an alarming rate. I applied for the $100 voucher but I've never heard back from Google. So I decided to bite the bullet and moved to iPhone instead. Apple might not be the best, but this was the last straw for me.
alt227
You dont remember batterygate then?
jeromegv
It was the opposite, slowing down the processor to preserve the battery (when a battery was quite old).
zer0x4d
Lol this was the most blown out of proportion "gate" ever and a nothing burger really. The issue wasn't what Apple did, as it is a very common practice in the industry and I bet almost every other manufacturer did it too. The issue was that they didn't notify the user.
wolpoli
Could you tell me what companies did the same thing in the mobile phone industry? Did those companies notify the user?
gertlex
I'm a weirdo who carries two pixel 4as. I'm also waiting for a response regarding the $100 voucher on one of my phones... My other one I took in for the free battery replacement, and that's doing OK.
But yeah, I was planning to go for a Pixel 9 or 9a (when that's been out for a while), but this forcing of the hand by google is absolute BS, and the alternatives are unsatisfactory.
segasaturn
I recently ordered a Fairphone 5, imported from the UK. Stock Android experience, replaceable battery, SD card slot, unlocked bootloader and modding is encouraged. Its basically what the Pixel (Nexus) line was originally supposed to be.
computehyper
I'm semi homeless and the forced Pixel 4a battery update made my phone unusable and I'm in a state of tears. What can I do? Reddit deleted my post (I am hoping it's not because of Google employees)
I don't want to get too long into what happened in my life, but I had a Pixel 4a and everything was running great. Even when I was on the streets homeless I was able to charge it. I'm still struggling in and out, and apparently there was an update that came automatically to my phone. I checked and talked to live support in the library and they said it was just a battery update and it will last a bit less. That wasn't a big deal I thought but now the update came and my battery went from many hours to maybe half an hour now and doesn't charge at all or very slowly. I have interviews and some other small jobs that I have to do and just hard life right now and I do not have any money for this. I am a bit emotional so I asked while tearing up to Google support why they did this and I can't afford this my life is in shambles but they didn't help me. Even with the battery replacement I do not live near any local shops and mailing it in would not be possible for my situation. I bought this phone when my life was good and I only like this one and want to use this one.
All my stuff is on here and I don't know too much about phones so I just want this to work. I don't have money to fix this. I feel like the phone will die any second. What can be done? I didn't know they would do this. My life just keeps getting worse... I always feared my phone getting stolen on the streets but never thought Google would steal my phone.
What can I do? I don't have much minutes or data and can't afford it, is there a number I can call Google directly? I don't want to play with the phone and do anything weird my life is on it and can't back it up.
Thank you all.
aucisson_masque
Get a cheap flip phone to receive call and make them.
When you got enough money, buy a phone. Not Google's one obviously. And transfer everything from the pixel to the new.
Keep the pixel for the incoming lawsuit.
bmaupin
I'm trying to figure out what the actual latest update is doing regarding the battery. I found an update to the kernel binary but it doesn't seem the source has been updated.
Can I submit a GPL request to Google to get the kernel source?
PaulDavisThe1st
Marcan is on it:
https://fosstodon.org/@marcan@treehouse.systems/113914172891...
bmaupin
Wow, that is exactly what I was hoping to do, but I wasn't able to figure out more than 1 or 2 of those steps. Thanks!
jeroenhd
If you own a device, you're entitled to a copy of all GPL software that came with it, including some build tools. However, if the diminished battery performance comes from some kind of firmware update for an embedded microcontroller, you're probably out of luck there, unless that controller also runs GPL software.
It's possible the changes you're looking for are already listed on one of these repos: https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-sepol... https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-kerne... https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish/
(sunfish is the codename for the Pixel 4a)
bmaupin
I looked through all the sunfish repos first, which is how I found this: https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/sunfish-kerne...
But apparently sunfish-kernel only contains binaries.
Given there's an update to Image.lz4, that seems there's an update to the kernel. I also compared the binary to the previous version and found some new strings possibly related to battery charging profile.
Next I checked out the source using Google's documentation but the latest commit is here: https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm/+/refs/heads/and...
But maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.
jeroenhd
If those pre-compiled binaries aren't based on GPL software, I don't think you'll have much luck getting their sources.
Android's source code is a maze of branches and tags, unfortunately. The change can have been made in the generic cross-device kernel tree, or it could've been a separate module, or it could've been a binary.
One thing you could consider is checking out the kernel for a project like LineageOS: https://github.com/LineageOS/android_device_xiaomi_sm6150-co... They usually pull+filter changes from upstream. For instance, these changes may be of interest: https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/android_device_xiao... https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/android_device_xiao... These kernels are used for a variety of devices with similar hardware, so not all changes have anything to do with the Pixel 4a, but it could prove useful in your search.
kam
I also looked around AOSP and found the commit for the battery alert icon [1], but no kernel source.
[1] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/...
NotPractical
If you're reversing this: I was curious if Google determines if your device is "affected" using the phone's serial, or the battery's serial. I've seen reports that people who replace the battery manually outside of the program still experience diminished performance. But of course that could just be because they replaced their defective battery with another defective battery.
bmaupin
I'm going through the kernel with Ghidra but not very good at it and not having much luck.
I do have an idea about what it's checking to determine if a battery is affected, but I don't have enough data yet to know if it's just a coincidence.
NotPractical
I don't imagine something like this would be implemented in the kernel? Might help to search system apps/binaries for the string displayed in the notification alert: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main...
userbinator
Have the battery replaced for free at a walk-in center in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Singapore, or India or take advantage of a mail-in repair program (US-only).
Whatever else you think about Google, I think you'd agree that is a much better response than what Apple did.
m_fayer
This borderline bricked my partner’s phone. We’re in Berlin. The “walk in centers” here are a few random sleepy repair shops barely aware of what’s happening who might be able to help you in a few weeks, maybe.
She bought an iPhone.
chomp
My battery wasn’t cut in half on iPhone, the duration improved
slavik81
My Pixel 4a won't turn on. I wonder if this might fix that problem. I guess it's worth a shot.
polka_haunts_us
My dad and I both bought a 4a (5G) at the same time, ours both died within a week of each other. With mine at least I know the issue was that it just stopped charging entirely, no cable plugged in would fix it.
Unfortunately, the 5G variation doesn't appear to be part of this program.
woodson
What if you bought it in another country? (Directly from Google’s pixel store in that country.)
Out of luck, that’s what.
mixedCase
The article indicates these are also options:
2) Request a $100 Google Store credit that you can put toward the purchase of another Pixel phone or other hardware.
3) Request a $50 cash payment.scarface_74
What exactly did Apple “do”?
adgjlsfhk1
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-apple-throttling-iph... Apple does the same thing, but doesn't offer free repairs when they do this
scarface_74
No, it’s not “the same thing”. Apple throttled the phones because the alternative was the phone shutting off. It wasn’t a software bug. It’s physics that when a battery got old and you tried to run the phone at full speed, the battery couldn’t handle it.
anotherboffin
They didn’t offer free repairs, but they also didn’t limit it to five countries.
markerz
Initially they silently under-clocked CPUs for phones with aged batteries. https://www.pcmag.com/news/apple-does-slow-iphone-speeds-but...
Then they announced a $29 battery replacement program for phones that were affected by this battery issue. https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-apple-is-refusing-to-repla...
scarface_74
So in other words, unlike Google that made perfectly good phones worse, Apple did an update that made iPhones with aged batteries not completely shut off.
And you don’t see the difference?
quicklime
Having an “aged battery” is very different from having a battery that was suddenly ruined by a buggy update that can’t be rolled back though.
tedunangst
Sometimes it helps to be second.
nickjj
I have a Google Pixel 4a and planned to use the phone until it physically no longer worked. I loved it, especially with its wired headphone jack and small size.
It has worked for 3+ years and held a charge for 2-3 days easily until the other week when they pushed the battery patch. Now it dies in a few hours with light usage.
I asked Google support on what will happen if I get a battery replacement and it's still draining fast. They won't answer.
Google reps at a repair center said a battery replacement is unlikely to fix the drain issue since the drain behavior is attached to an OS update you can't opt out of.
This is really frustrating to be ignored by Google after they essentially bricked a fully working device that I paid for.
This is a type of move where I'm tempted to de-Google myself over this, including deleting my YouTube channel with 20k subs that I've been regularly posting to for almost a decade.
My whole business (selling courses and contract work) depends on SEO from Google and YouTube and I'm close to saying fuck it and destroying all of that out of principle on how poorly they are treating folks over this issue. I haven't made that decision yet but it's close to be honest. Close enough that I'm openly posting this message.
stephaner
Same problem here (a few hours of battery life and it's very slow to charge now). This update makes no sense at all, excepted if you want to force your users to buy a new phone.
For me, it should be a RED flag on the Pixel lineup and on the confidence in Google.
I filled https://www.stopobsolescence.org/.
zimbatm
This needs more coverage. Perfectly good phones are getting thrown out because of a software update.
dont__panic
There's been a lot of activity on Reddit and Android tech news websites. /r/Pixel4a has been absolutely busy with activity lately, lots of people asking for help.
Decent summary post here: https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/techblog/2025/01/09/th...
toast0
My experience was kid dropped my old phone on holiday, we tried to remember why my spouse's old phone got replaced, and remembered she had a pixel 4a and the battery life had gotten really poor.
There was some news at the time that the 4a would be getting a 'battery performance update' and that it would result in some users getting a warning about their battery performing poorly and some would be eligible for $50 or a repair.
When I eventually got around to prepping the phone for the kid, lo and behold, the update was ready, I did it, and the battery was bad, and it linked me to the battery performance campaign page...
Which needed the IMEI, then said I could get $50, a $100 coupon or bring it in for repair, and there was a shop reasonably near me. I brought it in and they swapped the battery in about 2 hours with no extra drama.
I don't know why you would throw your phone out from this update... Although I wouldn't be surprised if you had already thrown it out because the battery performance was an issue before the update too.
deng
Google ended security updates for the Pixel 4a in August 2023, so running this as your daily driver was already problematic. Fortunately, LineageOS officially supports the 4a, and v22 (aka Android 15) was just released for it.
ndriscoll
This attitude (and the word "problematic") is so tiring. What is the actual problem with running it as your daily driver? What specific vulnerability are you actually concerned about? Unless there's something like an arbitrary code execution bug in one of the networking/radio stacks, "there aren't updates" is a statement with approximately zero useful information.
deng
OK, let me google it for you:
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-43096
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377...
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4377...
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49747
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2024-49748
These are just the RCE bugs without user interaction that were fixed with the January update. They are in the Bluetooth stack.
patall
I assume its a responsibility thing. If your bank login gets hacked on a no longer supported phone, you cannot point at other issues since you were not uptodate anymore. Even if it doesn't matter.
*Written from my 4a.
red_trumpet
That point is so weird: Why offer a "performance update" 1.5 years after the end of security updates?
bdndndndbve
Given the sudden urgency and pulling the old software, I'm assuming they're trying to avoid aging batteries exploding.
alistairSH
Isn't that just 3 years after release? Is that normal for Google phones? Yikes.
mananaysiempre
For older Google phones (as well as most other Android ones) it is the standard. (AFAIU this was mostly due to Qualcomm’s policies and lack of pushback from Google et al.) Newer Google ones get 5–7 years[1], and Samsung has also switched to a similar support term (but keep in mind that only Samsung’s flagships get monthly security updates).
Hi, (soon to be ex) Pixel 4a user here. Regardless of why this update has happened, the way Google have went about this update is sketchy at best, and deceitful at worst. To be plain: this phone has been EOL for 1½ years now. This update has appeared out of the blue and specifically decimates the battery + charging capabilities.
My most charitable view is that Google have found a major fault with the Pixel 4a battery and want to mitigate a repeat of the Galaxy Note 7 without saying it outright and causing a panic.
My least charitable view (and immediate reaction) is that they're purposely ruining a viable budget phone to make more sales.
Either of these are terrible. At no point has Google came out and stated -why- they're pushing this update in the first place. And as someone who hasn't updated I'd really like to know if my phone presents an immediate threat (and I'm sure Governments and airlines would also like to know) before I remotely consider an update that'll practically destroy my device.
On top of this, within a day of being notified about this update, Google drastically raised the price of new Pixels on their store. Again if I'm charitable it could just be automatic global market price updates, but that goes out the window when Google must have prepared this update, FAQs, support plans, etc, then released it just before said price updates. The $100 discount recourse doesn't go far when the 8a jumped from £379 to £499. It's hard not to feel suspicious about it.
While I'm here, I did briefly write about my experiences with the 4a, though I'm far from a competent tech writer: https://callmeo.live/blog/ode-to-the-pixel-4a/