Pixel 9 and 10 users hit with reboot headaches after January update
Google's January 6 Play system update is causing Pixel 10 series phones to freeze or get stuck on reboot, while Pixel 9 series devices may experience slightly longer reboot times, even though the security patch date hasn't changed.
If your screen locks up but you still feel haptics, 9to5Google suggests holding the power button for about 30 seconds to force a restart.
What's going wrong on each Pixel model?
On the Pixel 10, reboots leave you staring at just your wallpaper—no apps or status bar—but at least you can still access the power menu to try again.
The Pixel 10 Pro takes ages to boot and sometimes stays on a black screen until you plug it in or restart.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Pixel 9 only have slightly slower startups, with no major issues otherwise.
Not the 1st time: past updates brought bugs too
Last month's update for the Pixel 10 series led to flickering Always-On Display (AOD), freezing apps, battery drain, touch glitches, and other problems.
Google rolled out a hotfix between December 17-19 that tackled most of those issues.