Pixel phones are having a fit with their lock screens thanks to Android 16

What you need to know

• Pixel users are dealing with lock screens that won’t wake or respond after updating to Android 16.
• Weird bugs include screen brightness acting up, a moody fingerprint scanner, and crashes right after unlocking.
• These glitches have been lingering for weeks, and Google’s finally aware—just no fix yet.

If your Pixel’s lock screen suddenly feels off, you’re probably not alone, and Android 16 might be the culprit behind the weird behavior.

Android 16 officially started rolling out last month, with Google’s Pixel phones first in line for the update. But according to several user posts on Google forums and Reddit threads, the new software has been stirring up a bunch of issues for quite a few Pixel users (via 9to5Google).

Users across those platforms are saying the lock screen is not lighting up when tapped and ignoring the power button completely.

Some users are also seeing weird screen brightness shifts, a flaky fingerprint scanner, and sluggish performance right after unlocking. A few even mentioned apps crashing the moment they get past the lock screen.

To deal with the bugs, some users have tried forcing a restart, especially when the screen won’t respond at all. It helps for a bit, but the lock screen issues tend to creep back in after a few hours.

Google knows (but no fix yet)

Turns out, these lock screen problems have been hanging around for nearly a month. On the bright side, a product expert confirmed that Google is aware of the problem. There’s no fix out yet, but at least it’s on the company's radar. Unfortunately, there's no word on when the patch will arrive, but users are hoping it lands soon.

It’s still unclear how widespread the issue really is, since most of the evidence comes from forum complaints. However, the symptoms suggest a software glitch, implying that a future Android 16 update could likely resolve the bugs.

Android 16 is intended to bring several improvements, including a fresh new look and tighter security to Pixel phones. But if it’s breaking basic stuff like the lock screen, that’s a pretty big hit to the overall experience.

Android Central has reached out to Google for an official comment and will update this article once we hear back.