Moving to the new Feature Drop Beta fixed my Pixel 6 problems, but things can get complicated
ManyPixel 6and 6 Pro owners are angrily twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the stable rollout of the recent March Feature Drop/Android 12L update to fix their issues, some of which were introduced with the February update they’re currently stuck on. I actually ran into the Wi-Fi problem myself, where the phone wouldrepeatedly disable it multiple times throughout the day, making myPixel 6 Propretty difficult to use. Fortunately, I can confirm that installingthe June Feature Drop via the “new” Android Beta Programfixes that problem with what is essentially just a few taps. But if you do jump on the beta train, that could introduce new problems later.
Pixel 6 owners keeping track at home may have noticedthe recent March update changelog, which includes over a dozen fixesjustfor those phones — more if you count those that apply to all Pixels, including the 6 and 6 Pro. Fortunately for us, Google has confirmed that the new June Feature Drop Betas include all the patches that the March update does.
These fixes cover a range from addressing randomly disabled Wi-Fi (which I can personally confirm has been fixed, thank god) to claims of better fingerprint sensor performance, and more improvements to the battery, wireless charging, Bluetooth, the camera, and more. Of course, individual anecdotes of improved fingerprint sensor performance on every single Pixel 6 update are approaching “Safari seems snappier” meme-level bogus claims. Still, even I will admit that the fingerprint sensor on my own Pixel 6 Proseemsto work noticeably more consistently and with fewer lagged-out rejections on QPR3 Beta 1. Time will tell, though.
Finally fixed in beta? We’ll see — but there are some big caveats right now.
Admittedly, this all raises the question: Why are the changes in the March update okay to roll out to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro as part of the June Feature Drop beta but not the stable release? I asked Google this very question yesterday and never got an answer. If you’re willing to take a small leap and adopt the guinea pig mindset required to join the betas (and what might prove to be a set of beta fixes for the Pixel 6 series), QPR3 Beta 1 delivers much-needed fixes to the Pixel 6 series, but it will also introduce its own headaches later on.
It’s not clear if Google will change this formula in the future, but previously,registering in the Android Beta Programwasn’t something you could easily drop in and out of. The current Android Beta Program website explicitly states that migrating off the betas will require a wipe. Previously, youcouldmigrate off them without a factory reset during a very narrow window when the beta release turned to stable by remembering to opt-out manually. Google doesn’t offer you a reminder or prompt for that; it’s something you have to remember to intentionally seek out at that time. And, as plenty of folk thataccidentally upgraded from Android 13 DP1 to the June beta understand, it’s not something you’re likely to remember to do on your own.
I’ve also had luck manually migrating devices off the Android Beta Program by opting out of the program thenADB sideloadinga recent stable release, but that only works if the stable version you’re switching to is more recent than the beta version currently on your phone. (For example, you can move easily from Android 12 Beta 4 to Android 12 stable or Android 12L, but you can’t do the same maneuver from Android 13 DP1 to Android 12.) With Google now testing multiple different releases simultaneously, everything is becoming orders of magnitude more complicated — that’s fine for us here at Android Police, but for the average Pixel 6 owner that just wants their phone not to suck with faster access to these fixes, it’s a bummer.
All of this is going to get even more complicated once Android 13 switches from Developer Preview to beta (and I’ll have alotmore to say about all this in an upcoming post today), but the very short version is that anyone hoping to fix their Pixel 6 or 6 Pro’s issues by jumping on the new June Feature Drop beta probably needs to keep in mind they’ll be stuck on that beta track until at least June unless they’re willing to wipe — and that’s assuming Google lets folks migrate back to stable then, we don’t really know what its plans are. And, unless Google decides to improve how it handles beta testing, you’ll still need to remember to manually opt-out then or end up stuck in another release cycle if these Quarterly Platform Release Feature Drop betas continue.
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