Google Pixel 4a's surprise update was actually to prevent battery overheating

What you need to know

• Rolled out in January, the Android 13-based update was designed to stabilize the phone's battery.
• It could reduce battery capacity and affect charging performance for some owners who were eligible for free battery replacements.
• The ACCC, however, has issued a recall notice to warn users of the potential fire and burn risks.

The six-year-old Pixel 4a phone got a surprise update early this year. While Google was quite hazy about the release of the update, indicating it is just a battery improvement update, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Product Safety Recall program depicts the actual reason (spotted by 9to5Google)

It indicates that the rolled January update with the battery management feature was actually to “mitigate the risk of overheating.” The ACCC's shared notice dated March 7 indicates that some of the Pixel 4a devices sold from August 1, 2020, to September 30, 2022. It also mentions a hazard noting “an overheating battery could pose a risk of fire and/or burns to a user.”

For those unaware, the update to the Pixel 4a was precisely rolled out on January 8, and it was based on Android 13. The units globally have received the update, including Australia. It was to improve stability for Pixel 4a’s battery, and for some other Pixel 4a devices; however, it was believed to reduce the “available battery capacity” and impact “charging performance.” Even so, those affected devices were eligible for appeasement which includes free battery replacement.

The ACCC here reiterates the same and further provides the following steps, which are more or less the same as those shared by Google during the January firmware update roll-out. Here's what to do in case you have the 4a:

• Check that your device has received this firmware update.
• Consumers can submit a request to find out if their device is impacted here.
• This issue does not affect all Pixel 4a devices; if a consumer’s device is not impacted by the issue, the firmware update will have no impact on battery management, and the device will perform the same as before.
• Consumers may be eligible for an appeasement from Google. You can check your appeasement eligibility here.

While we now know the true reason for the surprise update roll-out for the Pixel 4a, it is commendable of Google to support such older Pixel phones. Surprise updates aren’t new for the Pixel 4a as the search giant rolled out a similar unexpected update in November 2023, which was also Android 13-based.

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