New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…

Original story (published on November 08, 2021) follows:

With the launch of the Google Pixel 6, fanboys were eager to try their hands on this year’s lineup. However, things were far from smooth when considering the software side of things.

Despite the much-appreciated hardware changes and a refreshed UI, Android 12 has been plagued by a number of bugs and glitches thus making it hard for users to enjoy the stock Android experience Google has to offer.

Google-Pixel-6-Pro
Pixel 6 Pro

Some recent user reports are now suggesting that the Google Pixel 6 is randomly waking up the screen. Those affected say they turned off ‘Always on Display’ alongside ‘tap to wake’ and ‘Life to wake’ the Pixel lineup offers.

It looks like the issue is related to the software with Android 12 not recognizing that the options are turned off. This is really frustrating for many since the screen is automatically waking up even if their Pixel 6 is laying on the table.

Pixel-6-automatically-waking-up-screen
Source

My Google Pixel 6 pro screen wakes up even though I’ve turned off “Always on display”, “tap to wake” and “lift to wake” I have been through all possible settings. So far I had no luck. Every time I nudge/move anything surrounding the device like when placing something on the table, the phone display would show up. Is there a solution? If not there needs to be a settings toggle for this to be optional for users. It’s sometimes disruptive when working especially when theres no notification to prompt it. Thanks!

Pixel 6 pro. Haven’t been getting great battery life so I’ve switched off almost everything. Always on display should be off and I unchecked lift to wake phone. Despite this, when the screen is shut off and I lift the phone from the table, the always on display still comes on. Is this the same for everyone? I was thinking this might be using battery to have the sensor on and triggering all the time as it happens whenever the phone is moved with the screen off. Is there a way to shut that off? Is there something to dial down the sensitivity maybe? I don’t recall this being the same on my pixel 2xl
(Source)

In case you are affected by the same issue, fortunately, there are a few workarounds that might come in handy. The first one involves disabling the fingerprint unlock method.

It looks Google made some changes to Android 12 which results in the screen automatically waking up when using the fingerprint authentication. Maybe it was done to make the unlock process faster since the Pixel 6 uses an in-display fingerprint scanner.

As intuitive as it might sound, some people just want to save battery and prevent the phone from waking up unless they press the power button.

Google-Pixel-6-screen-waking-up-workaround
Source

If you still want to use the fingerprint scanner but don’t want your screen to be waking up, you can run the ADB command “adb shell settings put secure doze_quick_pickup_gesture 0”.

We hope Google rolls out a patch that gives users a toggle that lets users decide if they want to automatically turn on the screen when using fingerprint lock. In the meantime, we’ll keep an active track of the developments on this one and update the story, as and when required.

Update 1 (November 17)

IST 11:21 am: Google has recently pushed out a surprise mid-cycle update to the Pixel 6 devices but unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to address the random screen-wake issue.

Update 2 (February 17)

06:47 pm (IST): It seems that this issue still persists for some Pixel 6 users, as reports (1, 2) continue to pour in.

However, Google Pixel support specialists say that this is intended behavior. And if users want to prevent it, then unlocking by fingerprint must be disabled.

Update 3 (May 3)

12:24 pm (IST): Google has released the May 2022 update for Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. It brings a fix for the issue where the screen keeps randomly waking up.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Google Section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Anurag Chawake
1373 Posts

My fascination with technology and computers goes back to the days of Windows XP. Since then, I have been tinkering with OS, mobile phones, and other things. When I am not working on anything, you will find me enjoying video games on some Discord server.

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