Android 17 Beta 3 fixes Pixel slow charging from 77%, but Assistant & 5Ghz Wi-Fi issues persist

While our initial dive into Android 17 Beta 3 focused on the flashy new user-facing features and developer changes, reaching “Platform Stability” is just as much about squashing bugs as it is about adding new toggles.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the feedback pouring in from Pixel beta testers. The good news? Google has finally addressed a highly annoying charging quirk that spilled over from Android 16. The bad news? A couple of the most frustrating Beta 1 and Beta 2 bugs have stubbornly survived the jump to Beta 3.

Here is the current state of bug fixes and persisting issues in Android 17 Beta 3.

The big fix: The 80% charging limit slowdown at about 77%

If you’ve been heavily utilizing the battery health features on your Google Pixel, you likely ran into this frustrating quirk. During the recent Android 16 stable rollout, users noticed that when the battery charging limit was set to 80%, the charging speed would inexplicably throttle to a crawl once the battery hit around 77%.

Initially, Google marked this on the issue tracker as intended behavior, causing a fair bit of uproar among users who just wanted a predictable charging curve up to the 80% cutoff. But they promised to work on optimizing the process in future builds.

Based on the latest OTA logs and user reports testing the new build, Android 17 Beta 3 quietly includes a fix for this. Devices are now charging at expected speeds right up to the 80% limit without that agonizing 77% bottleneck.

Here’s the full list of everything that has been fixed after the latest Android 17 Beta 3 update:

Bug fixes

• Resolved a critical accessibility regression. (Issue #484755628)
• Fixed a system-level regression in Android 16 process lifecycle management that caused frequent, random app restarts and screen flickering, which previously led to lost user progress and interrupted app states across multiple third-party applications. (Issue #440017096)
• Resolved an issue where Expanded Dark Mode failed to apply to apps in Work and Private profiles. (Issue #476409380)
• Resolved a system instability issue that caused device hangs and subsequent reboots. (Issue #427436873, Issue #428838049)
• Resolved a camera failure that prevented users from switching to the 5x telephoto lens. (Issue #485610295, Issue #488274607)
• Resolved stuttering and erratic behavior during ultra-wide to wide lens transitions. (Issue #452650681)
• Resolved an issue where the 80% battery limit caused charging to stall or slow significantly at 77% by optimizing the current transition logic to ensure the device reaches the target threshold and enters bypass mode more efficiently. (Issue #485148344, Issue #490178498)
• Resolved a system hang that caused the lock screen to become unresponsive after disconnecting from Android Auto or locking the device. (Issue #457527675)
• Fixed a system instability issue causing device freezes and reboots when using Android Auto. (Issue #455555269, Issue #457973643)
• Fixed a system instability issue causing frequent spontaneous reboots and device hangs. (Issue #485892529, Issue #488619007)
• Resolved a critical issue where system UI components like Pixel Launcher and navigation failed to load for several minutes after reboot. (Issue #317282987, Issue #316689583)
• Resolved a regression in Android 16 Beta 3 that caused unexpected device reboots. (Issue #420999948, Issue #426316038)
• Fixed a crash during rapid audio focus changes. (Issue #477151825)
• Resolved a Bluetooth pairing hang of up to 150 seconds. (Issue #466163481)
• Resolved a system-level instability causing spontaneous reboots during idle periods. (Issue #297421786, Issue #300558078)
• Resolved an issue where silent notifications unexpectedly played sounds when multiple notifications were active. (Issue #467164528)
• Resolved an issue in the Wi-Fi scanning framework that prevented analyzer applications from detecting nearby signals. (Issue #488493098, Issue #488244938)
• Resolved an issue where incoming calls failed to trigger device vibration. (Issue #473464803, Issue #470955250)
• Resolved a conflict where Battery Saver remained active indefinitely when an 80% charging limit was enabled. (Issue #366996806)
• Fixed a display rendering issue that caused visual artifacts when interacting with Google Message notifications from the lock screen. (Issue #486491783, Issue #486806705)
• Fixed an issue where notifications occasionally failed to dismiss or reappeared. (Issue #454647834)
• Fixed a rendering issue causing visual artifacts during back-navigation transitions. (Issue #485316132)
• Fixed an issue where system status bar icons would randomly disappear, preventing users from seeing battery or network levels. (Issue #473447873, Issue #484689844)

What’s still broken after Android 17 Beta 3 update

Beta software is inherently a work in progress, and reaching platform stability doesn’t mean the OS is bug-free. It just means the core framework is locked in. Unfortunately, two highly disruptive bugs are still plaguing Pixel users.

1. Google Assistant is still M.I.A.: If you rely on voice commands, Android 17 has been a rough ride. As we reported previously, Google Assistant has been completely broken for a significant chunk of users since Beta 1.

Despite hopes that Beta 3 would finally patch things up, commenters on the official Google Issue Tracker (Issue #486029529) are confirming that the problem persists. Triggering the Assistant often results in a frozen UI, a non-responsive listening prompt, or outright crashes. For now, you will have to keep relying on manual inputs or the Gemini app if you have it configured as your primary assistant.

2. 5GHz and 6GHz Wi-Fi connectivity woes: The second major holdover is a nasty networking bug. Users are continuing to report severe connectivity drops and authentication failures when trying to connect their Pixels to 5GHz and 6GHz Wi-Fi bands.

According to the ongoing thread on the Issue Tracker (Issue #488244938), the device will either refuse to connect to these higher-frequency bands or drop the connection randomly, forcing users to fall back to slower, more congested 2.4GHz networks. The Beta 3 update did not include the necessary modem or networking stack patches to resolve this.

It is entirely valid to feel frustrated when core features like Wi-Fi and voice assistants remain broken a month into a beta cycle. However, this is the exact reason these builds are kept separate from the stable channel. Google still has time to push incremental patches (like a potential Beta 3.1) before the final rollout to address these showstoppers.

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