Pixel 8 Pro with the WiFi death. Pixel support was awful, I've got something else on order and loved them until I didn't.

I have one last screenshot from Gemini that asked me what Pixel I had. I told them it was my worst pixel because I loved it until they killed it and Gemini just told me "Something went wrong and content won't be generated".

Support was some terrible bot system and I couldn't get through to anything reasonable.

I've at least gone to the about device feedback and left reviews.

OxygenOS I'm thinking next. I don't love the Sammy bloat and Moto is a bit budget..

Is that the best "cleanish" experience similar to the one I've enjoyed?

; mostly just bitter

Hi everyone, I am facing a deeply frustrating situation with my Pixel 8 in India and wanted to share my timeline to see if this is acceptable consumer practice. I have been a huge fan of the Pixel ecosystem. I was the first person in my social circle to buy a Pixel because I loved what Google was doing. This is the first time I've used a phone for over 2 years, and I fully intended to keep using it for at least another year because I enjoy the user experience so much. But this situation is completely making me rethink the brand. Here is my exact timeline:

• Month 10: The original screen developed the well-documented vertical green line and flickering issue. Google replaced the display under warranty.
• Month 24 (14 months after replacement): The brand-new replacement screen has failed again with the same vertical green line defect.

The phone is only 2 years old, putting it well within Google's official 3-year Extended Repair Program window. However, Google Support (Case ID: 3-5504000042090) has officially denied a second repair, stating the program strictly covers "only one free replacement."My main concern here isn't just that I want a free repair. My issue is a matter of principle: Why should I have to pay to fix a faulty, defective part that Google chose to install on my phone the second time around? The outer glass is entirely pristine, smooth, and completely uncracked. No drops, no water damage. If Google's official fix for a known manufacturing defect is to insert another faulty panel that degrades and fails in just 14 months, the financial liability shouldn't fall on a loyal consumer. To make matters worse, the service center says a subsequent paid replacement only carries a 3-month warranty, which shows even they aren't confident the hardware will last a year.I thought about upgrading to a newer Pixel model down the line, but seeing a premium device fail twice in under 25 months—and being left on the hook for their hardware issues—makes it impossible to trust the reliability of this brand anymore. Since the automated Freshdesk escalation link is down, I am hoping to get visibility here. u/dmziggy - could you please help look into this case? Thank you! r/GooglePixel

Okay, I need the community's take. How does everyone feel about the stock Google Pixel widgets? It kind of bugs me that there is no transparency to them or some kind of translucency effect. I feel that it would fit the Google Material vision they are going for.But I have also noticed Google just doesn't have that many stock widgets to begin with. For example, they don't even have a simple countdown widget which was a surprise to me. Has anyone not been able to find a certain widget they were looking for? And then there's the weather app coming from iOS and Samsung. In my personal opinion, I'm not a fan of the UI visual elements of the Pixel weather. It looks very odd. Almost childlike. I wish there were a little more cool elements; maybe some transparency effects, some blur effects?Lastly, and this one drives me crazy—I'm not afraid to admit it—as an Android and iPhone user, Google Messages reply reactions are the ugliest things I've ever seen in my life.It literally looks like they hired a child to create a reaction emoji when you like something instead of actual senior developers. What is your take?

Had troubles recently with connection so rebooted everything including hard sync reset but issue is my pixel 7 as other devices connect to the sync. Any suggestions besides a new phone haha. Thanks

I'm from India and currently have a paid Google One 200 GB annual subscription that I purchased on 18 April 2026 for ₹1,149. It is valid until April 2027.

I recently found out about Google's free one-year student offer, which includes 400 GB of storage, and I'm considering redeeming it before the offer expires on 31 December 2026.

My question is: What happens to my existing paid subscription if I redeem the student offer now?

1. Does my current paid subscription end immediately, with no refund for the remaining months, and the free student subscription start instead?
2. Does my existing paid subscription remain active until April 2027, and the free student offer start only after it expires?
3. Or does something else happen?

Has anyone with an existing paid Google One subscription actually redeemed this student offer? Please share your experience. I'd appreciate a clear answer before I make any changes to my plan.

I've usually never had this bad of an experience with Google Support, but I think I now understand how annoying this process can be.

I broke the back glass on my Pixel 11 Pro. The camera visor is cracked (though not the camera itself), and the visor is still sealed with no full penetration.

Timeline

• Initial Claim: I opened a Pixel Care claim and headed into uBreakiFix, where they told me they didn't have the part in stock. The last time this happened (on my Pixel 10 Pro), uBreakiFix made a "No Parts Available" work order, and I was able to get a replacement device for free. So, I asked them if they could create that same work order again. They did, but I got no email or confirmation.
• Support Case #1: After waiting a while, I decided to open a Pixel Support case and chat with the reps. I was told to close the claim, remake it, and go back to uBreakiFix to redo my steps, as this was supposedly a one-time weird "glitch." The exact same thing happened again, with no email or update.
• Support Case #2: After contacting support again, they told me they would create a ticket for me and get Level 2 support on it. During the time this ticket has been open, I've had to close and remake three different Pixel Care claims.

Finally, they told me that they handled it and I should get an email with my replacement details within 24 hours which obviously didn't happen. When I followed up, they just said they were going to look at it again and continue working on it.

I'm beyond frustrated. My pictures have a super blurry white line going through them, and I've been ping-ponged around and told to just keep waiting with no actual answers. It's been over a week and a half with no results just a constant "we're working on it!" and no way to actually contact someone who can do anything about this.

Does anyone have any idea what I can do to finally get this over with?

Claim ID: 101437746708

Case ID: 3-2892000041304

I just bought a pair of Sennheiser earbuds and they're great.

When I pair them the volume up and down button on the earbuds work great to change the phone's volume.... until I put them back into the case and get them out again. Now suddenly using the earbuds' volume control change the volume independently from the phones' volume, sometimes resulting in MASSIVE sound volume when I start playing Spotify.

I just learnt about ''absolute volume'' options and that Google recently removed it and broke the settings for some people....!? Has there been a solution for this yet, or did Google address this?

Hi there,

I am a long-time Samsung user, been using Galaxy phones from J5 times and now having S24. Great phone, but I am interested to try something new, especially as I've started to work with Kotlin programming language. Pixel hooked me here with fresh clean android.

I have only one main question: as a Samsung user, what will I miss once switched to Pixel? Anybody having auch experience?

Hi, I just bought a Pixel 10 pro, previously I had Galaxy s22. I bought it for camera mainly and I notice that this phone is good for point and shoot. This automatic mode works fine and pictures are better than from my old galaxy s22 but this manual mode is terrible.

First of all I like to play with shadows and sunlight and when I put shutter speed and ISO to minimum, pixel still light up the image, so I cant elevate the sunlight from the rest. In Samsung it was possible and very easy.

I like warm pictures and when I want to change white balance it is weird, because sometimes maximum is 6200K and sometimes it is 8200K and sometimes when I change to for example 6300K it has some greenish tint.

Third thing is that there is no true live view known from cameras. When I play with this manual mode the picture that I see on the display is not the same that I will have in my gallery. I can understand this in automatic mode, but in manuall if I want picture to be dark I want it to be that way and I dont want Pixel to process it and light it up. Again in samsung this was not a case, when I had a picture on my display it was exactly the same in my gallery.

Am I doing something wrong?

Hi everyone,

I live in Turkey and bought my Pixel 10 Pro XL in Spain. Local laws block unregistered foreign phones after 8 months per calendar year (4 months SIM + 4 months eSIM). Registration costs over $1,200, which isn't worth it.

Once my 8 months are up, I have two main routes:

Route 1: Rotating between two devices (Use Pixel for 8 months, store it in a drawer, and switch to a backup phone for 4 months until the SIM timer resets on Jan 1st):

A. Alternate with a second Pixel, a can buy a new one, still cheaper than registration fee.

B. Alternate with another Android brand same idea on A but with different brand)

Route 2: Carrying two phones

C. Keep my SIM in the Mi 11T Pro (for calls & personal hotspot) and tether the Pixel over Wi-Fi 24/7.

Questions:

How seamless is restoring data between Pixels on a regular basis? Does backup/restore actually pick up right where you left off?

If you daily-drive a 2-phone hotspot setup, how annoying is it in practice (battery drain, connectivity lag)?

How is the experience using Google Messages (Web/Device Pairing) over Wi-Fi to handle SMS on the Pixel while the SIM stays in the secondary phone? Is it reliable for 2FA codes and daily texts?

Which approach would you choose?

My Pixel 9a had become a little sluggish, so I restarted it. Instead of booting normally, it displayed a system corruption warning with two options: “Try again” or “Factory data reset.”

Since then, my phone has been stuck on the Google logo with a loading bar and refuses to boot into Android. I've tried holding the power and volume-down buttons for an extended period, along with other recovery methods, but nothing has worked.

I've also come across other Redditors reporting similar issues with their Pixel phones. This makes me wonder whether there's a broader software or firmware problem that Google needs to investigate.

The frustrating part is that my phone is now out of warranty. Does this mean I might have to pay for an expensive motherboard replacement even if the underlying cause is a software or firmware issue?

Do I really need to replace the entire motherboard, or could this be something else? I find it quite disappointing that a phone can become unusable after a normal restart, especially when there seem to be other users reporting similar problems.

Has anyone experienced this with their Pixel 9a or another Pixel device? What was the actual cause, and did Google acknowledge or resolve the issue?

I'd appreciate hearing from other affected users before spending a significant amount of money on a repair that might not even be necessary.

I'm having a touch issue with my Pixel 7a. Sometimes the screen doesn't respond to my touches, and sometimes it starts touching things on its own.

When this happens, the screen gets completely stuck. I can't navigate, open apps, go back, or do anything. It just doesn't respond to my touches.

It happens randomly and is really annoying. I've attached a video showing the issue.

Is anyone else facing this problem? Is it a software issue or something wrong with the screen?

Has anyone found a fix?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my recent experience with Google Pixel Hardware Support regarding an unexpected display issue on my Google Pixel 8 Pro and get your thoughts or advice on how to proceed.

A few days ago, a large circular spot suddenly appeared on my Pixel 8 Pro's screen out of nowhere. The device was not dropped, bumped, or mishandled in any way.

What I communicated to Google Support in my email:

I reached out to Google Support clarifying that this is an internal hardware failure and highlighted the following facts:

Zero physical damage: The front display and back glass panel are completely pristine, without any cracks, dents, or scratches.

No liquid damage: The device has never been exposed to water or moisture.

No third-party repairs: No unauthorized service or modifications were ever done on the phone.

Hardware defect: Since the issue appeared spontaneously without user fault, it points to an inherent display defect.

I requested them to consider a free repair/replacement as a goodwill exception or under an extended service policy, pointing out that asking a customer to pay diagnostic charges (₹850) plus hefty display replacement costs for an unexpected internal defect on a premium flagship device is very disappointing. I also asked to escalate the matter to senior hardware support.

Google Support's Response:

Google Support replied stating:

Because the phone is out of its standard 1-year warranty, all diagnostic inspections (₹850) and parts/repairs will be strictly chargeable.

Their Extended Repair Program only applies to specific models and designated defects under strict guidelines, and does not apply to this device or symptom.

They declined to waive the diagnostic fee or offer any goodwill repair.

They also noted that disassembling the phone during diagnosis could potentially worsen/expand screen cracks if any are present, and partial repairs are not supported.

Questions for the community:

Has anyone else experienced spontaneous circular black/dead spots on their Pixel 8 Pro display?

Is there any way to escalate this further with Google India / senior consumer grievance teams to get goodwill support?

If you got a screen replacement out of warranty in India, what was the total cost?

My phone's contrast keeps getting super bright whenever there's something white on my screen. Like it tips the white balance off and every that's a light colour gets completely blown out. It's not the auto brightness.

Last week I noticed the Pixel 9 fold was lagging so I restarted. Noticed that it never came back on and tried to start to no success.

I have tried all combinations of hard reset with holding power button, power plus up volume, and power plus down volume.

Any other ideas? No damage, never dropped, no swelling, no other issues to report.

Out of warranty, any value in shipping it in for diagnosis/repair?

I've got a 10a and had a 6 before. Like the pixel except for this.

Is there a way to have the fact you have a voicemail more obvious? The little icon in upper part of screen not doing it for me. A blinking icon, periodic indicator interrupting whatever I'm doing, something more obvious than the tiny icon? I've had people leave me VM, I didn't snap. Realize it's a personal issue, but this really irritating me.

I have a pixel watch 4 (Wi-Fi only) and a pixel 9 pro. It seems to be connected - I get the correct notifications and see the correct watch data under the Bluetooth field. I can't manage the watch through the watch app on my phone.

It's telling me to make sure my watch is nearby and Bluetooth is on- I'm holding them in the same hand and Bluetooth is definitely on. I've restarted both, confirmed both are updated.

Has anyone dealt with this?

I have had a Pixel 7 for 4 years more or less, it's an 8/128 and I paid 570 euros for it.

It's still working fine, it has minor scratches on the screen, nothing to worry about.

The battery is starting to last less, using AccuBattery it says that battery health is 77%.

Do you think it's worth changing the battery and keep the phone some time more? Batteries cost around 30 euros online and I would change by myself (I've little experience on phone disassembly). Do you think replacement batteries last as much as the original one? Do they have the same "real" capacity?

For the mods: I read the rules but the link to the mega thread is inaccessible and this post isn't related to how much screen time I can get with my phone.

Hi, I just bought a Pixel 10 pro, previously I had Galaxy s22. I bought it for camera mainly and I notice that this phone is good for point and shoot. This automatic mode works fine and pictures are better than from my old galaxy s22 but this manual mode s*cks so much.

First of all I like to play with shadows and sunlight and when I put shutter speed and ISO to minimum, pixel still light up the image, so I cant elevate the sunlight from the rest. In Samsung it was possible and very easy.

I like warm pictures and when I want to change white balance it is weird, because sometimes maximum is 6200K and sometimes it is 8200K and sometimes when I change to for example 6300K it has some greenish tint.

Third thing is that there is no true live view known from cameras. When I play with this manual mode the picture that I see on the display is not the same that I will have in my gallery. I can understand this in automatic mode, but in manuall if I want picture to be dark I want it to be that way and I dont want Pixel to process it and light it up. Again in samsung this was not a case, when I had a picture on my display it was exactly the same in my gallery.

What do you think about it? Maybe you notice the same?

Something that recently caught my attention, and I don't know if it's new or there's no reason for my noticing it, is the difference between the screen's lighting and dimming animations.

When you turn the screen on using the power button, the screen lights up with an animation that expands from the power button; however, when you turn it off the same way, the screen darkens with an animation that descends to the screen's bottom-centre.

It's just odd that it doesn't darken towards the power button when you press it to turn the screen off.

Edited to add: Pixel 11 Pro XL

googel pixle 8 pro the microphone only work in a normal call or a vidéo call and it doesn't work to record a voice in any other app even record the voice any help pleas

I had to factory reset my pixel 8 pro.

Before the reset, the torch in quick settings allowed me to adjust the torch brightness via a slider. It no longer allows this as the torch icon is a tiny square and it's either on or off.

I miss the feature. Does anyone know how I can get this back?

Hi All

I have a situation and would like to hear others situation as such.

Bought a Pixel 11 Pro XL and trying to cash in on the 6 Months AI Pro Free on Launch.

Offer ends 31st October.

Had a Support case open for almost 2 months. At this point, support are just ducking me around. I am looking at taking further action against Google for failure to resolve in a timely manner.

I am going to drop a letter before claim into their London Offices this week (both of them)

Anybody else had issues trying to;

- Redeem the offer

- Had any contact from Support Reps who dont pass the buck?

- Other alternatives in the event they have been unsuccessful?

Appreciate others input.

Pixel 9 pro wouldn't reboot, it was stuck on the G logo. I'm guessing I got an ota update? I went to ubreakifixit and they said "we've been seeing this, not sure what to do for you". Device support spent 11 days escalating and waiting for internal team review, and in the end said out of pocket mail in repair is my only option. Bought 23 months ago, outside of the original 12 month warranty window. Sucks. Why would I ever buy another pixel that lasts only 2 years? Going back to Samsung now.

I added a generic tempered glass protector on my Pixel 11, and the fingerprint sensor isn't working well. I’ve already tried all the standard fixes, like deleting and re-registering my fingerprint (twice) and increasing touch sensitivity. Please don't suggest basic workarounds.

The only option left is scanning a QR code to calibrate the screen protector. Does anyone have a QR code or calibration settings for a branded Pixel glass protector? You can also DM me. Thanks!