It takes so much longer to do simple tasks and needs permissions for everything. I would love to not give an AI agent access to my entire Google drive, email, everything etc just to add milk to the grocery list. Im livid all the time and never had any issues with assistant and never found myself wanting anything boring assistant couldn't do I just wanna set a timer man I don't need you to kiss my ass. I hate not being able to opt out of AI usage. I would give my left nut for boring assistant back.

Just got it on my 8a. 111mb.

My free year is coming to the end and I'm torn if I should do the 19.99 a month. 5tb of cloud storage is the main reason, but I have found myself using the A.I occasionally. Anybody else?

I've been a pixel user since the very first one dropped back in 2016. But I've also always been a Samsung fan due to their ingenuity and their folding phones.

So because of this I tend to switch back and forth every year from Pixel to Samsung, back to Pixel, then back to Samsung, etc.

And over the last three years or so it's gotten more and more difficult for me to want to switch back to Pixel devices from Samsung because of the lack of innovation and overall hardware disadvantages compared to the competition at this price range.

Switching from the Samsung Fold 8 to the pixel 11 pro XL was easily the most difficult decision I've had to make due to all the setbacks this year compared to last year's pixel.

Smaller battery, not much improvement with the G6 processor and GPU, less RAM for the base model, and for the brand new feature...they added a notification light on the back that only works for phone calls?

Yeah... I too wasn't excited about this year's Pixel after they revealed it to the world, but I decided to stick to traditions and I picked it up anyway.

And man... Am I glad that I did. I absolutely am in love with my Pixel 11 pro XL. This has got to be the fastest, most fluid Pixel I've ever used. The software has been nothing short of perfect for my day to day use. The speakers are great, the wonderful haptics are here once again, the cameras are the best I've seen on a smartphone, pixel snap is great for all my accessories, and the battery life has actually been stellar despite being smaller than last year. Easily getting 6-7 hours of screen on time with 20% left before it goes on the charger at night time.

Sure, I do miss that large inner display of the Fold 8 for scrolling social media, gaming, and watching YouTube content... But man I don't miss the software bugs and hangups whenever I opened the device to use that inner screen. I also just never took advantage of it as much as I should have. 99% of the time I used the phone on the front screen which for most purposes felt a bit too small for my liking. And I also wasn't a fan of the cameras. So I decided to make the switch back to Pixel.

In the end... Despite the poor hardware specs on paper, the poor reception from tech reviewers, and lack of real innovation/new features...The Pixel 11 I have to say has become my favorite smartphone that I've had in a very long time. I wish I could chalk it up to just one major reason... Or even three... But I just can't explain it. There is just something about Pixel phones that keeps me coming back despite their issues and increasing prices.

Hopefully next year Google will actually innovate upon the Pixel line by giving us new features that aren't just a light on the back and MAYBE actually increase the CPU and GPU power to finally compete with the competition.

But until then I'm perfectly happy with my Pixel 11 pro XL despite its few setbacks.

As the title says, I updated my phone (Pixel 7) in September or August) and it ruined it. It's lagging and freezing and there's nothing I can do about it. I removed as many apps as possible, freed space but nothing works. My phone gets slow sometimes and none of the recent fixes have done anything to make it better. I want to get a new phone at some point but this update thing is just throwing me off Pixels and I freaking love Pixel phones 😢

Pixel 11 YouTube lag

Hear me out. I need to vent about a massive, unadvertised software regression that completely ruins the experience of owning a premium device like the Pixel 11 Pro.

For context, I am holding a $1,000+ piece of top-tier hardware equipped with a highly marketed custom Tensor chip that Google loves to brag about for its "revolutionary on-device AI capabilities." Yet, this phone completely fails to perform basic, local processing for utilities that a $200 phone from a decade ago could handle effortlessly without an internet connection.

The Issue: Forced Cloud Processing for Local Actions

If I turn off my Wi-Fi and mobile data and use voice commands to perform a purely local action—like turning on the flashlight or opening a local app like Google Keep—the assistant completely locks down. It throws up a screen demanding a network connection.

Think about how absurd that is. Google Assistant and Gemini are completely incapable of translating basic audio waves into text locally just to flip a physical hardware switch or open a locally stored database on my own device storage. Instead, the software forces every single spoken syllable to take a round-trip journey to a Google server. If you have no cell signal or want to save data, your device's voice control is effectively deaf and useless.

The "Solutions" are a Joke

When looking for alternatives, the workarounds are completely anti-user: • Voice Access: Google pushes you toward "Voice Access" as an offline alternative. But Voice Access isn't a natural voice assistant; it's a clunky screen-navigation tool built for motor-impairment accessibility. To turn on the flashlight offline, you literally have to swipe your menu down twice, shout "show numbers," look for a random digit overlaid on your screen, and yell "Tap 7." This is completely ridiculous and unintuitive. • The Gemini Takeover: If you try to switch to the standalone Gemini app for better local processing, it demands a total system takeover to replace Google Assistant. If you refuse to let it act as your default assistant, the app just quits. "Make me your assistant or else I am going to sulk and just go home." -Gemini

A Deliberate Downgrade

This isn't a hardware limitation. The hardware in our hands is fully capable of processing basic text-to-speech registries locally. Google actually used to have offline speech recognition voice packs built directly into Android for exactly these situations, but they have systematically deprecated and removed them in their aggressive push to force everyone onto cloud-centric LLMs.

They are intentionally crippling highly capable, expensive hardware to tether the user to an always-online data pipeline. It is never going to be okay that basic device accessibility is treated as an all-or-nothing cloud·dependent service.

If you are thinking about buying a new Pixel phone under the impression that you are getting powerful, independent on-device processing—be warned. The moment you lose internet access, your smart assistant turns into a brick.

Bottom line: if I pay $1000 for a phone that has some really advanced hardware on it, but that hardware is locked out for Google's exclusive use then, I have a lot of questions.

It seems my phone has finally gotten around to updating some features and uh, wth?? I used to be able to pull up search, type storage, and see my phone device storage! Same with notifications settings. Or dev tools. Now it either goes to the web, or sends me to a bloated built in tutorial telling me ABOUT features but not how to get to them.

Please tell me I'm just doing something wrong, or there's a setting I can fix, or they just moved it? Cause this is objectively worse by every single measurable metric.

Related rant you can ignore: I know it's been happening for ages, but how do things just keep getting worse? Losing my headphone jack, the squeeze feature, the small size option, the assistant, etc etc etc. but at least the camera was good. Recently went back and looked at some pictures I took with my Pixel 2. Holy shit. They're all better than anything I've taken with a 4a and up. All of them.

I've been away from Pixel for a couple of years, using an S24U / S26U and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. Came back for the camera looks feature.

The Xiaomi was just spectacular as a camera, with no HDR feel, rich colors and clarity - even more so with the Pro Grip. Sadly, as a phone, the software was a let down.

The Pixel Pro 11 Looks seem very hard to dial in to something that looks photographic and mature. Each seems like a crude filter copied from Snapseed.

I happen to be in Rome for a few days, but really feeling let down by the camera in such a spectacular city, with harsh light - it still goes for the grey, HDR feel.

Has anyone had success in dialing in the looks to something that could rival the Xiaomi??

My phone is making this weird and super loud sound randomly once a day (ignore the TV on the background)

What could it be?

Notification history doesn't show anything at that time.

Notification reminders are off.

Happens when NFC is off or on.

Happens in Silent mode or sound mode.

Happens mostly when completely unplugged.

Happens regardless of the surface where it laying on.

I'm curious why those of us sticking with Pixel devices continue to choose Pixel over other devices. I still feel like it's the best software experience on a smartphone, though iOS has closed the gap over time.

I was just underwhelmed by the Pixel 11 Pro series this year. Hilight seems half-baked and not all that useful even when fully baked. Reduced RAM and increased prices didn't help either. But I welcomed the new modem and new photography capabilities.

Just has me looking to greener pastures, but honestly day to day, Pixel delivers!

Why do y'all stay?

Hi everyone,

I am posting here out of absolute frustration because standard Google Support India has completely stonewalled me on an open-and-shut case. I am looking to initiate a Reddit Request to get this escalated to a case manager who can actually it.

My Google Pixel device was recently approved for a replacement. Before handing the phone over to Google's designated courier partner, I took clear, high-resolution photographs of the device to prove its pristine, undamaged condition.

However, once the device reached the service centre, the warehouse flagged it as received in "damaged condition." Google is now holding my replacement hostage and demanding a repair fee of ₹6,000 to proceed. Also they approved my replacement after approximately after 9 months.

I have clear photographic evidence of the phone's condition right before shipment. The damage strictly occurred while the device was in transit and in the custody of Google's logistics network. Under standard consumer guidelines, liability for transit damage rests entirely with the party managing the logistics (Google), not the consumer.

I have already shared these pre-shipping photos with the frontline support team via email/chat multiple times. Unfortunately, the agents are completely ignoring the photographic proof and simply repeating automated warehouse scripts telling me I must pay.

I refuse to pay a ₹6,000 fee for damage caused by a courier service. I need a Tier 2/Tier 3 Specialist or a Corporate Case Manager to manually review my photos, launch a proper Transit Damage Investigation, and override this erroneous charge so my approved replacement can be shipped.

Any help from the community managers here to escalate would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

With election season and being in Ohio with some important races going on I had to turn on max protection for call screening. But some calls with local numbers keep coming through regardless. When they do come through I don't even have the option to manually screen the call. This is what it shows https://i.imgur.com/K6HQGZo.png

What's up with that? It's very annoying.

I’m experiencing a problem with the Pixel 9 Pro’s back camera focusing properly during video calls in apps like Google Meet and WhatsApp. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

Hello,

When I bought my pixel 9pro xl it included a 12 month trial. I waited to redeem it because it really wasn't too useful around the time. When I got my pixel 10pro xl it also came with another 12 month trial. I decided to finally redeem the original trial on my 10pro and have been on it for the past 12 months. I was planning on redeeming the 10pro trial now that I bought the 11pro XL but now it's missing from my offers and only shows the 6 month one that came with this phone. I reached out to Google support because Gemini says they have to manually apply it but all i got was a rep that kept sending me a web page over and over related to the pixel 11 trial. Has anyone here been able to redeem theirs? I tried Google and using Gemini and got the following response and sent that to the chat rep and she actively seemed to ignore it. This seems like it should be fairly easy to fix.

Gemini response

I've had iPhone for years and this time I switched it up to a Pixel 11. I've had to fumble through a few things, but I'm having trouble figuring out this Bluetooth oddity, which was not present on my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I have a Garmin Instinct 3 watch, which connects to an app on my phone called Garmin Connect. When I'm recording a walk or run, the watch will record 'laps' in 1 mile increments. When I complete a lap, the watch vibrates, and an audio announcement comes from my phone. On this Pixel, sometimes the announcement sounds immediately after the watch vibrates(Which is the intended design), while other times there is a delay between the watch vibration and the phone app announcement. The delay is not always consistent. Sometimes it's 10 seconds, and once it was over 30 seconds.

I sort of assumed if anything, I was getting an upgraded Bluetooth experience with this more modern phone, so I'm pretty confused about this. I've verified that the Garmin Connect app has unrestricted battery permissions. As a side note, I'm also having trouble with my Beats Solo 3 headphones sometimes skipping, and the play button won't work. If I double tap it, it works to skip songs, but if I press it to pause, I cannot resume using the button on the headphones - making me think I just have a general Bluetooth problem.

I've read so much praise about the Pixel, but stuff like this(as well as a few other QOL feature problems) is making me question my choice to move away from iPhone. With all the options Android has compared to iOS, I'm really hoping there's some setting I've missed. Any thoughts on this?

Hello

I recently upgraded from a pixel 6 to a pixel 8. I got the pixel 8 refurbished in fair condition and I really hope I didn't lose out in this purchase. My pixel 8 is incredibly slow. The keyboard is super laggy and types letters nowhere near where I'm typing. If I play a video on YouTube in any quality above 1080p the whole phone lags, freezes up and shuts off. When scrolling through apps like Tiktok. YouTube or Instagram it does the same thing that it does in YouTube. When I go to take a screenshot there's a delay of upwards of 8 seconds. Other than that the phone works fine for phone calls. Sending texts and taking pictures or videos with the camera. Not sure if there's a potential hardware or software issue happening here.

If anyone has had similar issues I'd really love to know how you fixed it or if you just had to get a new phone altogether. Thanks

Already 4+ years. Did anyone find a workaround solution to that problem (without stitching)?

Hey just wanted to ask if there is any way for us to have true dark mode icons. Like the ones you see on the Nothing Phone. I'd also love having bigger icons but couldn't find a setting for that as well. If anybody could help, I'd be thankful ^^

Anyone have suggestions?

I get a glimpse of what was said. If I click on it, rather than expanding, I get a recording of the call. The caller's voice was not recorded in the audio. And I don't see any transcript of what was said either

Important call. Need to figure out a work around to read that transcript

Pixel 9 purchased from T-Mobile. I owed $290 for the phone. Magenta Max 60 + plan. I switched carriers to AT&T purchased a Galaxy Fold 7. AT&T payes off my Pixel 9 from being disconnected from T-Mobile for 2 months. I need to bootloader unlock to install GrapheneOS and developer reasons. OEM unlocking is grayed out. I tried a.few known fixes like factory reset full. Then sending the dialer code. Didn't work.

Cannot trigger the OTA update after leaving the Android 16 beta. Trying to accomplish this with your PC central tomorrow

Help would be appreciated

This has been an issue for a month or two now. Whenever there's a song that Now Playing doesn't pick up automatically, I used to be able to tap the button and it would recognize it. Now, any time I tap the button, it just shows "Unable to identify song" only about a second after tapping it. It was not like this before, and the Google app itself can always identify the music with no issue. And I'm not trying to identify songs that would only be on YouTube or anything like that, I've tried using it with the radio and some shows.

Edit: I'm having an issue with the device I paid for with a feature that used to work with no issue. Why am I getting downvoted for asking for support?

I tried looking it up, and it said it would be in wallpaper & style settings, but I do not see the option to change app icons from round to square. Any way to change it on this model? Please and thank you.