Updating your Google Pixel 4a intentionally ends battery life

The Google Pixel 4a has always been considered a but it just received a software update which raises doubts about that. Update . This is not a side effect of some new software. This is the actual intent of the update.

Wait what? Google says that automatically updating the software to Android 13 “will reduce battery runtime and charging performance” but it is necessary to “improve the stability” of each device. This is the only explanation given by the company. We’ve reached out to Google to ask for a specific reason as to why this is necessary.

There’s a silver lining here for current Pixel 4a owners. While every Pixel 4a will receive the automatic update, only certain devices will see a reduction in battery life and charging performance. There’s no word on what specifies which phones will suffer as a result of the update, but owners of so-called “affected devices” will have a few “appeasement options” to choose from.

People can send the phone in for a free battery replacement, but that will require the owner not to use the phone while Google performs the replacement. If that’s not applicable, the company will send affected owners $50 or give them a $100 credit toward the purchase of a new Pixel phone from the Google Store. Pixel 4a owners have one year to choose one of these options.

It’s possible that there’s nothing nefarious going on and the Pixel 4a’s batteries are outdated, as is the case with the phone’s release in 2020. This means they may not provide all the power required by the current operating system. The goal of a software update can be to prevent unexpected behavior or shutdowns, and decreased battery life is an unfortunate side effect.

This whole thing sounds suspiciously similar to Matthew In 2017. However, Apple was not upfront with consumers during this fiasco, . At least, Google seems to be getting ahead of things here, even if it could be a bit more transparent.