Google seems to have quietly enabled screen-off fingerprint unlock on Pixel 9a with its latest update

Google seems to have quietly enabled screen-off fingerprint unlock on the Pixel 9a, at least based on a fresh Reddit report and the screenshot shared by the original poster. That screenshot clearly shows the “Screen-off Fingerprint Unlock” toggle inside the phone’s fingerprint settings.

That alone is notable because Google has been all over the place with this feature. Android Authority previously reported that screen-off fingerprint unlock first showed up for the Pixel 9 series in Android 16 DP2, then expanded much more broadly in Beta 3, only to get pulled again in later beta builds.

Google later restored the feature, but not for everyone. In December, Android Authority reported the option had returned with Android 16 QPR2 for the Pixel 9 lineup and newer devices, while the Pixel 9a was still excluded at the time.

So this latest sighting is interesting. If the Reddit post is accurate, Google now seems to have brought the feature to the Pixel 9a as well, after previously leaving it out while keeping the restored version on the main Pixel 9 flagships.

I could not independently confirm a wider rollout on older models. In my testing on a Pixel 7a running the latest March stable build and on a Pixel 8 running the Android 17 beta 2 build, I could not spot the feature.

That lines up with where things seem to stand right now. The feature appears to have started with the Pixel 9 series, briefly reached older Pixels during testing, got removed, then came back for the Pixel 9 family again, and now may have finally made its way to the 9a too.

There are also a few comments under the Reddit thread from users saying they see it on their phones, but most of them do not mention the exact model. So, for now, it is hard to say whether this goes any further than the Pixel 9a and newer devices, including the Pixel 10a.

For now, Google seems to have widened this rollout just enough to include the Pixel 9a, while older Pixel phones still look to be missing out. But since the Pixel 9a also uses an optical fingerprint scanner, there’s no reason why Google can’t bring the feature to older Pixel phones too.

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