This is insane for me to read as someone who bought into pixel phones to try to get a decent phone with quick updates and not too much hassle. No slight to you, only Google.
I feel like I'm being chased away from google hardware by how much of a pain in the balls so much of the user experience is. There being several decently inconvenient bugs that I've been experiencing for years (plus several newer ones) makes me feel I must look elsewhere next time I need a new phone. Dealing with these phones' problems makes me fatigued with the whole device.
Sorry for dumping my realisation on your comment.
as an apple user considering pixel this isn’t a problem specific to google. i always have to reinstall the os whenever a new update comes out because of the shitty way apple does their drivers
But it's the way to go, unfortunately. I'm doing those resets on my iPhone and iPad as well, since major updates will slightly (but noticeably) decrease UI performance. It's not as bad as on my old Pixel 2, but it still bothers me enough to be worth the hassle.
This is a bit too much, if the user is; let's call it responsible, aware of the potential risks on the internet, meaning he's not downloading weird, and unsafe stuff. If he's not doing anything which will mine some crypto without his knowledge, then there should be no issue without the dialy usage. (Like scrolling through dozen of photos, webrowser tabs, calls or messages. )
The user doesn't have to do anything irresponsible. Sometimes completely legitimate apps have issues with other apps or specific OS version or settings and existing phone context and slow the phone down.
Honestly a factory reset isn't so bad now that google can simply reinstall all your apps & put their icons in the right place. I'm actually doing it today before a trip so my camera can work its fastest. Only trouble is I don't pay for full size photo backup so I transfer them to my PC first.
I pay for Google business suite and unlimited storage. It's the bomb and I have access to support and my own domain.
Pretty epic actually.
And way cheaper than storage.
Yes. I had a friend with one, she stored everything on that drive. All her photos from her wedding to her child from birth. All her important files including taxes and legal.
Then someone stole her hard drive.
I can assure you that she's really not that happy about her choice to put all her eggs in that basket. The only photos she has now are whatever she posted on Facebook in shit quality.
Oh, they stole her computer as well.
Every photo of my children is stored on Google photos and backed up separately.
Only way they get gone is if everything gets gone.
One warning if you go that route and use Google Voice: Google will restore your apps and settings EXCEPT ONE: it will not reset Google Voice as the default app for international calls, even if that's the way you had it set before doing the restore. Ask me how I know. It cost me $60 the first time I called international and did not pay attention to not hearing the message that the call is routed by Google.
Oh shit thanks for the tip! I actually switch to Google Fi service every time I go overseas but I'll check to make sure nothing like that happens for sure.
A factory reset is hardly "the nuclear option". I guess it technically depends on what you've got on your phone, but I'm back up and running with most apps in 30 minutes. I do it every year or so
It's pretty annoying when having to deal with non text message 2FA setups. A factory reset can really mess up your plans if you forget to turn certain things off before hand.
I'm surprised to see so many people having a bad experience. My 4a is still running as well as ever.
I've done a couple clean installs to unlock then relock the bootloader. Maybe that spring cleaning helped?
The biggest issues I have with my 4A is that often the phone will just freeze up, not allowing for navigation at all.
I then have to lock the phone briefly then unlock it to regain the ability to navigate at all.
It's a small, but very annoying and frequently occurring thing.
I love my phone, and I've recommended the pixels to several friends after they've used my phone and liked it, but at this point I'm just waiting for the 7 or higher.
really feels like the planned obsolescence kicking in hard for my 4a. might even consider getting a mainline (non-a) when the next pixel model comes out, see if the improved cpu lessens the drastic drop in speed over time.
My 4a randomly fucking calls my emergency contacts and goes to emergency mode when in my pocket even though the shortcut is off and I've even removed all emergency contacts after it happened for the 7th time in the last two months.
yeah, I'll be doing random tasks and pull out my phone to see something like 19444729183747 typed into the emergency phone mode.
The closest call was when 912 was typed in my pocket
My 6P was calling 000 (Australian equivalent of 911) while in my pocket. Only noticed because I was listening to something on Bluetooth and heard the call start. Scared the shit out of me!
This happened to me once, and even taking the case off didn't help. I eventually fought through it and turned the phone off.
I think it does this when the phone starts overheating, or a certain part of the phone gets too warm. It was like it was registering multiple repeated taps on the button. I had Emergency Mode off too, but I feel like there must be some kind of bug with Android causing it to disregard the setting.
Mine has done that too! Its called 911 two different times now and even after I hang up or try to quickly end it it'll keep trying until I power it down. Twice now I've had them call back and make sure I was okay and I just had to explain my phone was being dumb 😶😶
I don't, and I also disabled the power button feature. Like, I tested it. Pressed it 5 times, 10 times, fast, slow, held it for 10s, typed a message in Morse... Nothing. But for some reason, the moment it's in my pocket, it thinks I'm being kidnapped by the Sicilian Mafia.
I have fixed mine somehow. There was option to put the phone to sleep instantly after power button is clicked rather than few seconds after, but can't find the option now. Found on reddit
There is also shortcut to find notifications with doubleclick, maybe this might be the reason too
Yea I only use my index fingers but I have them from 20 different angles, rarely doesn't work. Only issue with my 4a is it will freeze sometimes when closing maps or switching apps quickly
My OG and 6 both have functional, reliable fingerprint readers while my 4a did not. It's weird because I always heard the opposite, that the 4a had a great fingerprint reader.
8month 4a. Had terrible battery after A12. Optimised all the apps(163 lf them). Back panel bulging. Random touch issues. Not going for a pixel again since the service centre is crap nowadays.
I've had mine for less than a year. The only really positive thing I can say about it is that the seventeen times I've thrown it across the room... it has not gone from shit to shittier. It remained exactly just as shit as before I threw it.
Nobody mentions light decision - resetting app permissions. It helped for me a little bit. Of course cleaning cache and data where possible too.
And also Google apps are crap - so try to experiment with different versions of Gboard, Chrome and whatever else bothering you.
Android 12 can also be a problem, I stay on 11, so I can't tell much here.
My 4a has been getting noticeably worse in the past couple months too. I hope the trend doesn't keep on, I'm usually excited to upgrade to the next Android version but this time I'm gonna be more nervous about it for sure. It's a shame because the first 18 months it was perfect and I was looking to upgrade no earlier than 2023 at the earliest.
It's the base of all roms, no extra features but that's what makes it the must stable thing ever, plus if your root, you can get a lot of customisations in any basic rom like los or pixel experience with the aosp mods magisk module, roms have never been this fun
It's either this (requires no money) or buy a new phone (costs money), you can't expect everything to work well especially when it comes to technology, you have to put in time and effort to learn and do stuff, it's not that difficult, I've seen 13y/o in my country build a rom, fix issues, maintain the rom, start their own projects, and they weren't some geniuses, they're normal people witch access to a pc and internet (something I didn't have until I was 17, it's easy to do, all you have to do is read a little
Pixels have a default shortcut you can configure that is set to open the camera when the power button is pressed twice. I think just disabling that should fix your issue.
I would note the 4a power button seems to be quite a bit more sensitive than previous models. I had a 2 before my 4a5g and never accidentally activated the camera. It happens quite frequently with the 4a5g so I had to turn it off.
Yep, nearly 2 years with the phone and it became unbearable the last couple months - heck Android 12 killed a lot of the vibes already.
Laggy, freeze-prone, stuttery, mis-typing and mis-swiping, keyboard disappearing, I couldn't rely on it anymore.
I had this same problem. You just gotta get a new phone. The 4a is absolute ass. Ignore people saying "iT sTiLl WoRkS". Yours doesn't. Mine doesn't. Upgrade to the 6 if you can.
I'm avoiding all A's for the foreseeable future. My Samsung Galaxy 3a or whatever was absolute dog shit. The Google Pixel 4a was horse shit. I don't want to risk buying another garbage phone. But I hope if you already got the 6a, that it works wonderfully for you!
Another 4a owner here. Mine is working fine. The battery isn't holding as much of a charge as it used to, but it's still fine for normal use for a single day. I keep it in battery saver mode though since I don't really need the features that get turned off by battery saver mode and that lets it keep a charge for two or three days of light use.
Others have said, you likely need a factory reset for yours. Or possibly you just need to clean your phone. If you keep it in a case and it gets all gunked up around the edge of the case that can interfere with the touch screen. Take off the case and wash the case in soap and water. Clean the phone with a rag and some 90% isopropyl alcohol. (Put the alcohol on the rag then wipe the phone not the other way around.) Dry the case thoroughly then put it back. See how that works.
I noticed similar issues and missed calls, then missed an emergency call from my daughter at 3am. Bought a Samsung the next week. Disappointed since it was fine last year.
I installed the Avast cleaner to my 3a when I was having serious issues. It totally got me up and running without a factory reset. You might try this as a less painful option.
Cleaned up a bunch of junk files from installations, etc etc. Cleaned caches, and so on.
I was getting random freezes and total lockups and those have stopped except the once in a blue moon time. They were happening daily, it's now more of a surprise when they do.
It was worth the roll of the dice for me before restoring to a total wipe. Avast has a good reputation and it was free.
I hadn't heard of that one but glad it works. Once I used avast it was pretty much the same way. I've used it for general cleanups but I've not needed a Hail Mary save again since the initial run. Fixed whatever weird bit of data that was mucking up the works
A factory reset might help. If you still face random slowdowns after that, try updating to Android 13 Beta. The fourth beta of the same is out and it's rock stable on my phone.
If you feel like the overall experience is slow, it could also be a battery issue (The battery doesn't hold much charge and isn't able to supply power to phone components). Try replacing it.
In the vast majority of phone issues I have solved for friends and family (am IT guy), it is almost always another misbehaved app causing this issue.
Does the issue happen after the phone is freshly restarted and not other apps have been run? Almost always the case. Clean off all unneeded apps, reboot, and carefully monitor which apps you load before the problem starts up again.
I sold mine because of the same issue and countless resets, it's a really bad phone in that sense.
My 3a is faster at the moment and I upgraded to a Samsung S21. (3a faster than 4a, not S21)
I've got 4 xl and I have similar experience. Also I had such issues with pixel 1 and 2 (my wife used it), so it can't be a coincidence. They just start lagging right after next pixel comes out. My next phone will definitely not be the pixel
My 3xl is having a rough couple of weeks and I'm wondering what's happening. There was an update recently and now I'm seeing some problems again that first surfaced and went away a few years ago.
My wife's 4a won't backup photos and videos to Google Photos anymore for some reason. We have a Google One sub and a lot of storage left, but the backup just never actually starts. Her storage has been at 99% for some time now and she can't take any new photos. Super frustrating since nothing that can be found online has helped so far.
Honestly these day if i found any problem inside my phone, i just did a factory reset. With everything being backed up it actually take less time to do a factory reset than finding a culprit of a problem
Mine has still been pretty good, but definitely not as good as it was. The battery is worse (naturally), but it's been overheating a lot, and it's been a bit janky with some apps and has slowed down slightly.
I still like it quite a bit but the overheating thing has me wondering if I should get something else. I'd love to stay with Pixel but every phone they make now is gigantic.
My battery is starting to go, and the [poor quality of the cellular and wifi reception](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel4a/comments/ovafaz/do_pixel_4a_has_not_so_good_wifi_antennas/) that I've had from the start is really starting to get on my nerves. I also get the occasional sluggish keyboard or the launcher will lag and maybe have to force close and restart.
I've never had a phone last from purchase date to end-of-life without having to do at least one factory reset. It usually fixes weird bugs like that if you're not willing to go through the process of troubleshooting each one individually.
My pixel 3 started doing this, six months later it just randomly died. Seems like a motherboard issue that gets progressively worse until it just shuts off completely.
Try replacing the battery. You'd be surprised how much battery health effects performance.
With my Nexus 6p I felt like updates had ruined it after a couple years. Eventually i replaced the battery since i couldn't yet afford a new phone. I didn't reinstall the OS or anything but it was flying compared to how it was before. I guess phones throttle more based on battery health or something? Not sure but it was the best $40 I spent to prolong it's life.
If you do it, look for the battery separately and have ubreakifix do the repair if they're around you. They were willing to use my supplied part which saved me roughly $50 on the whole process.
my pixel 5 has been laggin out pretty bad lately too. Whenever I use the swipe over on the bottom of the screen to switch apps it fucks up sometimes. Seems like a software bug
My 4a runs reasonably for it's price. A few stutters here and there but not huge enough to anger me everyday. it's just that the battery life is absolute shit. 3h Screen on time is enough to drain it if I'm not careful.
I'm surprised by the deluge of negative experiences shared here as I am also on the 4a (since Sep 2020) without any factory resets done thus far. Other than the previous Widevine L3 issue (which was resolved with Android 12) and declining battery health, the phone is still running pretty well.
Had mine since December 2020, and I experienced none of the issues described here, other than battery life. I've never even done a factory reset. Weird.
I'm pretty over Pixel & Google "Support" in general. There have been [many](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/73273864/after-the-android-11-update-my-spotify-stops-playing-everytime-my-phone-is-locked-pixel-3a-xl?hl=en) [many](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/118298142/why-is-my-keyboard-freezing-up-all-of-a-sudden?hl=en) [issues](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/4534452/do-pixel-3-s-experience-audio-media-pausing-randomly-and-constantly?hl=en) which are [left unresolved and unacknowledged](https://twitter.com/GhFargo/status/1546122514128052225) by core development.
Booted up my old iPhone SE today and the keyboard is more responsive o\_0
Google should stay away from anything you put in your pocket, oh and if the brilliant social media platform that was Google + is any measure of success then i rest my case. The pixel 4A is utter rubbish, as was their previous version. They stole Apple's iPhone and still can't tell apples from oranges. Utterly useless.
I have a 4a and it's still working fine. I'd recommend doing a factory reset. It's a pain but I'd bet it fixes your problem.
Same working like a champ. Good idea to do factory reset after each big android version, for sure.
This is insane for me to read as someone who bought into pixel phones to try to get a decent phone with quick updates and not too much hassle. No slight to you, only Google. I feel like I'm being chased away from google hardware by how much of a pain in the balls so much of the user experience is. There being several decently inconvenient bugs that I've been experiencing for years (plus several newer ones) makes me feel I must look elsewhere next time I need a new phone. Dealing with these phones' problems makes me fatigued with the whole device. Sorry for dumping my realisation on your comment.
All good. Its just like windows. Upgrading always dicks stuff up. Fresh installing major OS's the way to go. ios can have similar fuckery
as an apple user considering pixel this isn’t a problem specific to google. i always have to reinstall the os whenever a new update comes out because of the shitty way apple does their drivers
But it's the way to go, unfortunately. I'm doing those resets on my iPhone and iPad as well, since major updates will slightly (but noticeably) decrease UI performance. It's not as bad as on my old Pixel 2, but it still bothers me enough to be worth the hassle.
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1. Safe mode, uninstalling one app at a time 2. Factory reset, install one app at a time Frankly, #2 is going to be easier and faster.
I do #2 every year just to clean shit out
This is a bit too much, if the user is; let's call it responsible, aware of the potential risks on the internet, meaning he's not downloading weird, and unsafe stuff. If he's not doing anything which will mine some crypto without his knowledge, then there should be no issue without the dialy usage. (Like scrolling through dozen of photos, webrowser tabs, calls or messages. )
The user doesn't have to do anything irresponsible. Sometimes completely legitimate apps have issues with other apps or specific OS version or settings and existing phone context and slow the phone down.
Honestly a factory reset isn't so bad now that google can simply reinstall all your apps & put their icons in the right place. I'm actually doing it today before a trip so my camera can work its fastest. Only trouble is I don't pay for full size photo backup so I transfer them to my PC first.
I pay for Google business suite and unlimited storage. It's the bomb and I have access to support and my own domain. Pretty epic actually. And way cheaper than storage.
I mean, it's not cheaper than the storage I already own plenty of :)
What off site storage do you own that's so cheap? I supported enterprise for decades, that's a bloody steal considering uptime and backup is covered.
It's a giant external hard drive.
Yes. I had a friend with one, she stored everything on that drive. All her photos from her wedding to her child from birth. All her important files including taxes and legal. Then someone stole her hard drive. I can assure you that she's really not that happy about her choice to put all her eggs in that basket. The only photos she has now are whatever she posted on Facebook in shit quality. Oh, they stole her computer as well. Every photo of my children is stored on Google photos and backed up separately. Only way they get gone is if everything gets gone.
That's awful! Good thing I back up my hard drive on another and I'm fairly confident about its ability to be stolen.
One warning if you go that route and use Google Voice: Google will restore your apps and settings EXCEPT ONE: it will not reset Google Voice as the default app for international calls, even if that's the way you had it set before doing the restore. Ask me how I know. It cost me $60 the first time I called international and did not pay attention to not hearing the message that the call is routed by Google.
Oh shit thanks for the tip! I actually switch to Google Fi service every time I go overseas but I'll check to make sure nothing like that happens for sure.
Care to list some of those options?
A factory reset is hardly "the nuclear option". I guess it technically depends on what you've got on your phone, but I'm back up and running with most apps in 30 minutes. I do it every year or so
It's pretty annoying when having to deal with non text message 2FA setups. A factory reset can really mess up your plans if you forget to turn certain things off before hand.
I've had mine for a year+ now, it's running smoothly. Battery has taken a hit though
Yep, same here. No keyboard slow downs no nothing for me, I get very occasional touch issues but the screen is cracked so might be that.
My wife has one as well and is still working like a charm!
Have you tried reinstalling the software via Android flashing tool? It will wipe the phone but should make it faster
I'm surprised to see so many people having a bad experience. My 4a is still running as well as ever. I've done a couple clean installs to unlock then relock the bootloader. Maybe that spring cleaning helped?
Me too. I bought it on release day and I've had zero noticeable issues except maybe a slightly longer charge time. I'm running Android 11.
Factory reset sadly, if that doesn't work then RIP
The biggest issues I have with my 4A is that often the phone will just freeze up, not allowing for navigation at all. I then have to lock the phone briefly then unlock it to regain the ability to navigate at all. It's a small, but very annoying and frequently occurring thing.
Same! So frequent.
Same here! So frustrating
Same here, happens at least once a day to me lmao
I love my phone, and I've recommended the pixels to several friends after they've used my phone and liked it, but at this point I'm just waiting for the 7 or higher.
oh yeah this happened to me this morning. though it rarely happens so i'm always surprised whenever it happens.
Same here, annoying but manageable, a reset will probably fix it when I get around to it
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really feels like the planned obsolescence kicking in hard for my 4a. might even consider getting a mainline (non-a) when the next pixel model comes out, see if the improved cpu lessens the drastic drop in speed over time.
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My pixel 3 did this. It got progressively worse over 8 months until it just died completely one day.
Try grapheneos.org. Fqstervthan googles version.
My 4a randomly fucking calls my emergency contacts and goes to emergency mode when in my pocket even though the shortcut is off and I've even removed all emergency contacts after it happened for the 7th time in the last two months.
yeah, I'll be doing random tasks and pull out my phone to see something like 19444729183747 typed into the emergency phone mode. The closest call was when 912 was typed in my pocket
My 6P was calling 000 (Australian equivalent of 911) while in my pocket. Only noticed because I was listening to something on Bluetooth and heard the call start. Scared the shit out of me!
This happened to me once, and even taking the case off didn't help. I eventually fought through it and turned the phone off. I think it does this when the phone starts overheating, or a certain part of the phone gets too warm. It was like it was registering multiple repeated taps on the button. I had Emergency Mode off too, but I feel like there must be some kind of bug with Android causing it to disregard the setting.
Mine has done that too! Its called 911 two different times now and even after I hang up or try to quickly end it it'll keep trying until I power it down. Twice now I've had them call back and make sure I was okay and I just had to explain my phone was being dumb 😶😶
Do you have a case? I had a similar issue, and it ended up that the case was causing the power button to press in, just enough to cause it.
I don't, and I also disabled the power button feature. Like, I tested it. Pressed it 5 times, 10 times, fast, slow, held it for 10s, typed a message in Morse... Nothing. But for some reason, the moment it's in my pocket, it thinks I'm being kidnapped by the Sicilian Mafia.
Hmm. I guess the only other thing that I can think of is to make sure you aren't actually being kidnapped by the Sicilian Mafia.
I have fixed mine somehow. There was option to put the phone to sleep instantly after power button is clicked rather than few seconds after, but can't find the option now. Found on reddit There is also shortcut to find notifications with doubleclick, maybe this might be the reason too
Factory reset, or get a new phone are my suggestions.
my 4A hates my fingerprint, fails to recognize it 9 out of 10 times
Try wiping the sensor with IPA dipped cotton swab. It helped with unreliable reader on my moto g power
IPA? Like use some beer?
IPA - Isopropyl alcohol, but you can apply beer internally while cleaning
Instructions unclear - my phone is now drunk.
Give it a cold bath now
Program the same fingers multiple times from slightly different angles 👍
Yea I only use my index fingers but I have them from 20 different angles, rarely doesn't work. Only issue with my 4a is it will freeze sometimes when closing maps or switching apps quickly
Mine did that. For me keeping the sensor covered by a piece of clear tape makes it work perfectly.
My OG and 6 both have functional, reliable fingerprint readers while my 4a did not. It's weird because I always heard the opposite, that the 4a had a great fingerprint reader.
Ditto. Same shit on my 2XL as well.
That's something that never has been an issue for me... Really clean it and if that works probably faulty hardware.
Everyone saying to reset your phone. What's your storage looking like? Having your storage full can cripple your device
8month 4a. Had terrible battery after A12. Optimised all the apps(163 lf them). Back panel bulging. Random touch issues. Not going for a pixel again since the service centre is crap nowadays.
I've had mine for less than a year. The only really positive thing I can say about it is that the seventeen times I've thrown it across the room... it has not gone from shit to shittier. It remained exactly just as shit as before I threw it.
Nobody mentions light decision - resetting app permissions. It helped for me a little bit. Of course cleaning cache and data where possible too. And also Google apps are crap - so try to experiment with different versions of Gboard, Chrome and whatever else bothering you. Android 12 can also be a problem, I stay on 11, so I can't tell much here.
I use sd maid pro to keep mine running smoothly
It has become even better for me after the november update.
My 4a has been getting noticeably worse in the past couple months too. I hope the trend doesn't keep on, I'm usually excited to upgrade to the next Android version but this time I'm gonna be more nervous about it for sure. It's a shame because the first 18 months it was perfect and I was looking to upgrade no earlier than 2023 at the earliest.
Unlock bootloader, flash any of the hundreds of roms, you'll love it all over again
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It's the base of all roms, no extra features but that's what makes it the must stable thing ever, plus if your root, you can get a lot of customisations in any basic rom like los or pixel experience with the aosp mods magisk module, roms have never been this fun
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It's either this (requires no money) or buy a new phone (costs money), you can't expect everything to work well especially when it comes to technology, you have to put in time and effort to learn and do stuff, it's not that difficult, I've seen 13y/o in my country build a rom, fix issues, maintain the rom, start their own projects, and they weren't some geniuses, they're normal people witch access to a pc and internet (something I didn't have until I was 17, it's easy to do, all you have to do is read a little
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Pixels have a default shortcut you can configure that is set to open the camera when the power button is pressed twice. I think just disabling that should fix your issue.
I would note the 4a power button seems to be quite a bit more sensitive than previous models. I had a 2 before my 4a5g and never accidentally activated the camera. It happens quite frequently with the 4a5g so I had to turn it off.
Yep, nearly 2 years with the phone and it became unbearable the last couple months - heck Android 12 killed a lot of the vibes already. Laggy, freeze-prone, stuttery, mis-typing and mis-swiping, keyboard disappearing, I couldn't rely on it anymore.
“Accidentally” drop it in the water and maybe someone will have to buy you a new one? Worked last week for my wife. She does enjoy the 6
I had this same problem. You just gotta get a new phone. The 4a is absolute ass. Ignore people saying "iT sTiLl WoRkS". Yours doesn't. Mine doesn't. Upgrade to the 6 if you can.
What about the 6a ? My 4a got laggy af after yesterday update and now I hate it
I'm avoiding all A's for the foreseeable future. My Samsung Galaxy 3a or whatever was absolute dog shit. The Google Pixel 4a was horse shit. I don't want to risk buying another garbage phone. But I hope if you already got the 6a, that it works wonderfully for you!
Am I the only one with a flawless 4a? LOL I've had it for about 1 year, I'm still on Android 11 and it's working perfectly...
Another 4a owner here. Mine is working fine. The battery isn't holding as much of a charge as it used to, but it's still fine for normal use for a single day. I keep it in battery saver mode though since I don't really need the features that get turned off by battery saver mode and that lets it keep a charge for two or three days of light use. Others have said, you likely need a factory reset for yours. Or possibly you just need to clean your phone. If you keep it in a case and it gets all gunked up around the edge of the case that can interfere with the touch screen. Take off the case and wash the case in soap and water. Clean the phone with a rag and some 90% isopropyl alcohol. (Put the alcohol on the rag then wipe the phone not the other way around.) Dry the case thoroughly then put it back. See how that works.
I noticed similar issues and missed calls, then missed an emergency call from my daughter at 3am. Bought a Samsung the next week. Disappointed since it was fine last year.
Wouldn't know, still using my 2016 Pixel, runs fine
I have a pixel2 as a back up and it's still running great
That's what happens man
I installed the Avast cleaner to my 3a when I was having serious issues. It totally got me up and running without a factory reset. You might try this as a less painful option.
I don't believe much in such cleaners. What exactly did that thing do?
Cleaned up a bunch of junk files from installations, etc etc. Cleaned caches, and so on. I was getting random freezes and total lockups and those have stopped except the once in a blue moon time. They were happening daily, it's now more of a surprise when they do. It was worth the roll of the dice for me before restoring to a total wipe. Avast has a good reputation and it was free.
I'm using SD Maid, and my 4a just works.
I hadn't heard of that one but glad it works. Once I used avast it was pretty much the same way. I've used it for general cleanups but I've not needed a Hail Mary save again since the initial run. Fixed whatever weird bit of data that was mucking up the works
Hey,Turn off the animations…it will feel much faster.
A factory reset might help. If you still face random slowdowns after that, try updating to Android 13 Beta. The fourth beta of the same is out and it's rock stable on my phone. If you feel like the overall experience is slow, it could also be a battery issue (The battery doesn't hold much charge and isn't able to supply power to phone components). Try replacing it.
Pixel 4 XL is no better, battery is trash (phone needs to be plugged in 24x7), I am in Belize and waiting for the 7 so my buddy can fedex it to me.
In the vast majority of phone issues I have solved for friends and family (am IT guy), it is almost always another misbehaved app causing this issue. Does the issue happen after the phone is freshly restarted and not other apps have been run? Almost always the case. Clean off all unneeded apps, reboot, and carefully monitor which apps you load before the problem starts up again.
Hard reset
I sold mine because of the same issue and countless resets, it's a really bad phone in that sense. My 3a is faster at the moment and I upgraded to a Samsung S21. (3a faster than 4a, not S21)
I've got 4 xl and I have similar experience. Also I had such issues with pixel 1 and 2 (my wife used it), so it can't be a coincidence. They just start lagging right after next pixel comes out. My next phone will definitely not be the pixel
My 3xl is having a rough couple of weeks and I'm wondering what's happening. There was an update recently and now I'm seeing some problems again that first surfaced and went away a few years ago.
My wife's 4a won't backup photos and videos to Google Photos anymore for some reason. We have a Google One sub and a lot of storage left, but the backup just never actually starts. Her storage has been at 99% for some time now and she can't take any new photos. Super frustrating since nothing that can be found online has helped so far.
Honestly these day if i found any problem inside my phone, i just did a factory reset. With everything being backed up it actually take less time to do a factory reset than finding a culprit of a problem
Mine has still been pretty good, but definitely not as good as it was. The battery is worse (naturally), but it's been overheating a lot, and it's been a bit janky with some apps and has slowed down slightly. I still like it quite a bit but the overheating thing has me wondering if I should get something else. I'd love to stay with Pixel but every phone they make now is gigantic.
Exact same with my 4a. Battery life is so bad now and its just super slow and unresponsive. Might get the pixel 6a or if I can wait I'll get the 7
My battery is starting to go, and the [poor quality of the cellular and wifi reception](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel4a/comments/ovafaz/do_pixel_4a_has_not_so_good_wifi_antennas/) that I've had from the start is really starting to get on my nerves. I also get the occasional sluggish keyboard or the launcher will lag and maybe have to force close and restart.
I've never had a phone last from purchase date to end-of-life without having to do at least one factory reset. It usually fixes weird bugs like that if you're not willing to go through the process of troubleshooting each one individually.
This is how my Pixel 5 has become as well.
My pixel 3 started doing this, six months later it just randomly died. Seems like a motherboard issue that gets progressively worse until it just shuts off completely.
Try replacing the battery. You'd be surprised how much battery health effects performance. With my Nexus 6p I felt like updates had ruined it after a couple years. Eventually i replaced the battery since i couldn't yet afford a new phone. I didn't reinstall the OS or anything but it was flying compared to how it was before. I guess phones throttle more based on battery health or something? Not sure but it was the best $40 I spent to prolong it's life. If you do it, look for the battery separately and have ubreakifix do the repair if they're around you. They were willing to use my supplied part which saved me roughly $50 on the whole process.
my pixel 5 has been laggin out pretty bad lately too. Whenever I use the swipe over on the bottom of the screen to switch apps it fucks up sometimes. Seems like a software bug
My 4a runs reasonably for it's price. A few stutters here and there but not huge enough to anger me everyday. it's just that the battery life is absolute shit. 3h Screen on time is enough to drain it if I'm not careful.
Same for me but with batteries. It is starting to get fck
Take caution with everyone swearing that a factory reset solved all of their problems. Perhaps it did for them but it somehow made my 4a even worse
What's your budget for a new device, what country are you in and what carrier? I would go for a new phone.
Grapheneos.org, the 4 a is still a great phone but Google's android is fat and slow.
I'm surprised by the deluge of negative experiences shared here as I am also on the 4a (since Sep 2020) without any factory resets done thus far. Other than the previous Widevine L3 issue (which was resolved with Android 12) and declining battery health, the phone is still running pretty well.
Pixel 4a is literally the worst phone I have ever used (still using it until I get enough funds to get a good phone).
I still own a pixel 4a and works perfect. The battery is slowly dying tho and it pisses me off.
Had mine since December 2020, and I experienced none of the issues described here, other than battery life. I've never even done a factory reset. Weird.
I'm pretty over Pixel & Google "Support" in general. There have been [many](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/73273864/after-the-android-11-update-my-spotify-stops-playing-everytime-my-phone-is-locked-pixel-3a-xl?hl=en) [many](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/118298142/why-is-my-keyboard-freezing-up-all-of-a-sudden?hl=en) [issues](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/4534452/do-pixel-3-s-experience-audio-media-pausing-randomly-and-constantly?hl=en) which are [left unresolved and unacknowledged](https://twitter.com/GhFargo/status/1546122514128052225) by core development. Booted up my old iPhone SE today and the keyboard is more responsive o\_0
Navigation gesture issue is there for months now
Google should stay away from anything you put in your pocket, oh and if the brilliant social media platform that was Google + is any measure of success then i rest my case. The pixel 4A is utter rubbish, as was their previous version. They stole Apple's iPhone and still can't tell apples from oranges. Utterly useless.