Some Pixel owners can’t wirelessly charge after Android 13 update

Pixel owners who haven’t upgraded to Android 13 yet, beware: it seems that several people aren’t able to use wireless charging after installing the latest OS, which released earlier this week (via 9to5Google). There have been several posts on Reddit about the issue from people using the Pixel 4, 4 XL, 6, and 6 Pro using a variety of wireless chargers, including Google’s first-party Pixel Stands. For Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners, this could be an even bigger problem — they’re not allowed to roll back to Android 12 after updating to Android 13.

According to some users’ reports, the phones do seem to recognize that they’re on a wireless charger, with one user even saying that their 4 XL shows the charging battery icon. However, the batteries seemingly won’t pull in any juice, and some charging pads report that the phone is misaligned or that there’s been a general charging error.

There have been a variety of fixes suggested, especially around the Pixel Stands — one user reported that after disabling the Pixel Stand app, booting into safe mode and charging with the stand, and then forgetting and adding the stand, their device started charging with it again, though others haven’t had luck with those steps. One staff member here at The Verge had a friend who said that their first-gen Pixel Stand seemingly forgot their Pixel 6 Pro but started charging again after they set it back up.

A handful of users have also reported that various Pixel models were having issues with rapid charging as well, with one user saying that their Pixel 4A 5G only charges 10 percent in an hour and gets very hot doing so. They didn’t specify exactly whether they were using wireless or wired charging but did reference plugging and unplugging their phone, suggesting that it was the latter.

Google didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s questions about the issue or whether there’s a fix in the works.

It’s unfortunate that this sort of issue is cropping up in Android 13, especially since some users say it started during the beta, meaning that Google’s had some time to hear about and fix the issue. Android 12 was an especially rocky release, with some updates breaking core functionality on Pixels, and the fact that Android 13 is having issues with something as fundamental as charging doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that Google’s turning a corner on the stability of its updates.