One of the biggest benefits of having a Google Pixel smartphone is the early rollout of major Android updates; unlike most Android phones, which can take months to receive updates, Pixels receive the software as soon as it’s ready.
However, it seems that could be a double-edged sword when it comes to the Android 16 rollout. Following the initial release of Android 16 last week, some Pixel owners have reported various navigation bugs, including some that render their phone completely unresponsive.
Unresponsive navigation in Android 16
It’s not uncommon for major software releases to have a few minor bugs; it takes time to squash bugs after all, and many companies rely on user feedback to do so in a timely manner. Even Apple’s big iOS updates aren’t immune to the occasional glitch or bug.
However, it’s not often that a bug so big and impactful makes it through to the release candidate – but that’s seemingly what has happened with the Android 16 update rolling out to Google Pixel devices at the moment.
Essentially, the issue plaguing some Pixel phones stops users from being able to navigate.
Neither swiping from the side of the phone and tapping the back or home button in the navigation seems to work for some users, with claims on Reddit and X that it randomly becomes unresponsive, sometimes for several seconds at a time.
One Reddit user reports delays of over 30 seconds when attempting to use the navigation buttons on their Pixel 8 Pro, while another notes that the swipe back gesture stops working intermittently.
Android Police’s Artem Russakovskii also claims that the back system gesture stops working intermittently, and even included a screen recording – posted to X – to showcase the issue.
This is a particularly big problem when you consider that most Android apps no longer have a dedicated ‘back’ button, relying instead on the functionality baked into the Android navigation menu to go back a step.
It doesn’t seem to be widespread
As frustrating as it may be to be affected by the apparent navigation bug in Android 16, it’s worth noting that not all devices are experiencing the issue.
Our Pixel 9 samples at Trusted Reviews all work just fine following the Android 16 update, at the very least.
Google has also yet to officially respond to the bug, but with a growing number of complaints appearing online, the company will need to address the problem sooner rather than later.
