Google Pixel 8 wireless charging not working for some; Battery Share also broken

Here’s the crux of the article in video form:

Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro have been hotly anticipated for months, but following their release last month, some early adopters have been reporting issues with wireless charging. There are also reports of the Battery Share option not working for some Pixel 8 users. A few of those affected think the recent software update could be the culprit, but it’s too early to conclude anything given some reports are from people using out-of-the-box software.

I’ve encountered several posts on Reddit and the Pixel community forum about the issue from people using a variety of wireless chargers, including Google’s first-party Pixel Stands. According to reports, the phone shows that it’s connected to a wireless charger in the battery settings. But the actual charging isn’t happening. The issue happens with or without a case on, which adds further to the mystery. Pixel 8 owners have been sharing on social forums in hopes of finding a simple community fix, but looking at the growing numbers, it’s likely that more is at play.

Apparently, wireless charging worked fine on the Pixel 8 for the first couple or so weeks. But it suddenly stopped working. For some this happened before the November update.

While others only started noticing it recently after installing the November update.

A little fiddling with the phone tends to get things going, but the charging stops not long after, meaning it never charges to completion. The fact that it happens with the stock and 3rd-party wireless chargers is even more frustrating for Pixel 8 owners, but some think this could be a hardware problem.

One user says they keep getting an error message asking them to “Realign phone to charge wirelessly” whenever wireless charging stops working on their Pixel 8. Could this mean coil alignment is the problem? Quite possibly, but again, no official source has confirmed anything so far, so this is still speculation.

From the look of things, though, the Pixel 8 coil seems to be positioned slightly lower than the G logo on the back side. However, cases have aligned magnets with the G logo, which is a little too low. This means the phone will either not charge wirelessly at all or charge at slow speeds. Below is an image shared in one XDA forum thread about this issue.

While the above evidence suggests this could be a coil alignment issue with MagSafe cases, the fact that wireless charging is not working with Pixel Stands even on some caseless Pixel 8 units negates this suggestion. But I hope Google comes forward with a quick solution soon. On the brighter side, future Pixel phones may not face this hurdle if Google adopts MagSafe-like magnets with the new Qi2 wireless charging beginning with the Pixel 9.

In addition to wireless charging not working consistently, some Pixel 8 users are also reporting an issue with broken Battery Share feature. Apparently, the feature won’t just turn on for them, which makes charging other devices wirelessly from the back of your Pixel 8 impossible.

While reports about the broken Battery Share aren’t as widespread, it also seems tied to the wireless charging glitch affecting the Pixel 8. So I hope it won’t take long before Google steps in to address both issues, be it acknowledging or fixing them.

Featured image: Google