Android 16 Is Glitching Hard On Some Pixel Phones And It's A Mystery As To Why
The highly anticipated Android 16 update, which freshly rolled out to Google Pixel phones last week, has quickly become a source of frustration for a growing number of users. Reports are flooding in across social media platforms like Reddit and X, detailing debilitating bugs that render gesture navigation and traditional on-screen buttons unresponsive. The issue isn't affecting everyone, thankfully, and Google has yet to make an official comment.
So far, the issues appear to affect a range of Pixel devices including the Pixel 6, Pixel 8, and the newer Pixel 9 Pro XL. Users have described scenarios where the "back" gesture simply stops working, swipe-up gestures for accessing the app drawer become useless, and even the three-button navigation system suffers from severe lag or complete unresponsiveness. A Pixel 8 Pro owner on Reddit claimed their device became "almost unusable," with delays of over 30 seconds before navigation commands registered. "It's like my phone forgot how to be a phone," lamented a user in a popular Reddit thread, expressing a sentiment shared by many.
So far, the issues appear to affect a range of Pixel devices including the Pixel 6, Pixel 8, and the newer Pixel 9 Pro XL. Users have described scenarios where the "back" gesture simply stops working, swipe-up gestures for accessing the app drawer become useless, and even the three-button navigation system suffers from severe lag or complete unresponsiveness. A Pixel 8 Pro owner on Reddit claimed their device became "almost unusable," with delays of over 30 seconds before navigation commands registered. "It's like my phone forgot how to be a phone," lamented a user in a popular Reddit thread, expressing a sentiment shared by many.
Here's a demo of the back button randomly not working on Android 16.
— Artem Russakovskii (@ArtemR) June 14, 2025
I grabbed a bug report and submitted it to Google engineering along with this reproduction screencast. Hopefully, they'll figure it out. pic.twitter.com/nEmifqQRvb
Moreover, Android Police and ApkMirror co-founder Artem Russakovskii showcased the infuriating bug in a screen recording posted on X, demonstrating the intermittent failure of the back gesture.
While not all Pixel owners are experiencing these problems, the sheer volume of complaints suggests a significant flaw that Google needs to address ASAP. As exciting as the roll-out of Android 16 was last week, these concerns do raise questions about Mountain View's QA process for the stable version of the OS on previous generation Pixel phones. Why these bugs are happening is anyone's guess right now, unfortunately.
As of now, Google has remained silent on the matter. Affected users are being urged to report the bugs directly to Google through official feedback channels. Hopefully a patch will be deployed swiftly. For those yet to update their Pixel devices, the consensus among tech experts and frustrated users alike is clear: do not update to Android 16 right now. It appears waiting for a fix, potentially in the form of a hotfix or a subsequent stable release, is the wisest thing to do at this point.
While not all Pixel owners are experiencing these problems, the sheer volume of complaints suggests a significant flaw that Google needs to address ASAP. As exciting as the roll-out of Android 16 was last week, these concerns do raise questions about Mountain View's QA process for the stable version of the OS on previous generation Pixel phones. Why these bugs are happening is anyone's guess right now, unfortunately.
As of now, Google has remained silent on the matter. Affected users are being urged to report the bugs directly to Google through official feedback channels. Hopefully a patch will be deployed swiftly. For those yet to update their Pixel devices, the consensus among tech experts and frustrated users alike is clear: do not update to Android 16 right now. It appears waiting for a fix, potentially in the form of a hotfix or a subsequent stable release, is the wisest thing to do at this point.
