GoKawiilDavid Imel / Android Authority
TL;DR Pixel 4 series phones, and the Pixel 4a in particular, have recently been suffering from a boot loop problem.
Back at the start of July, Google let us know that a fix would soon be heading out.
Pixel 4a owners now report that their latest Play update has finally sorted the bug out.
Outside of full-on bricking a device, where you just can’t get it to respond at all anymore, is there any glitch more frustrating to deal with than a boot loop? At least most of the time when an app is malfunctioning, we have the opportunity to try troubleshooting it, but when your phone keeps restarting itself over and over, there’s just not a lot you can do. Some owners of older Pixel devices — and the Pixel 4a in particular — have been dealing with just such a headache, but we’ve got good news: Google’s fix has finally arrived.
We first heard about this issue just about a month ago, with Pixel 4, Pixel 4XL, and Pixel 4a owners reporting that their phones were stuck in a boot loop. Roughly a week later, Google let us know that a fix was on the way for these phones, with plans to distribute it as part of a July Play system update.
While we haven’t spotted a direct mention of this fix landing in any of Google’s release notes, impacted users are now confirming on Reddit’s Pixel 4a sub that Google’s latest update has finally fixed their phones.
If you haven’t gotten it yet, first try disabling Wi-Fi data before your phone resets, and then see if you’re able to pull down this Play update over your cellular connection. Once installed, this boot loop nightmare should finally be behind you.
Users have been experiencing this nightmare for two months at this point, and while it’s a little frustrating that it’s taken so long for salvation to finally arrive, we’re also just happy to see Google still taking the time to implement fixes for even some of its oldest hardware like this.
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