The September Pixel Drop has brought useful updates to Pixel phones, but it may also have introduced a serious lock screen bug. Reports on Reddit suggest some Pixel users can no longer unlock their phones normally. The issue affects both pattern and PIN-based screen locks.
A Pixel 10 Pro XL owner said the phone reset the pattern screen before they could connect the second dot. Another 10 Pro XL user reported the same problem in the thread. That user managed to unlock the phone after a hard restart. They held the Power and Volume Down buttons to restart the device.
However, the first user could not find a workaround and eventually had to factory reset the phone. The issue also appears to affect other Pixel models. A separate Reddit thread includes a Pixel 8a owner who uses a PIN lock. The phone reportedly showed a “wrong PIN” message after the first digit was entered.
Another Pixel 8 Pro owner reported experiencing the same problem. This suggests the bug is not limited to the Pixel 10 Pro XL or pattern locks. The reports point to a possible issue with how the lock screen handles user input. The screen may accept input before the user finishes entering the PIN or pattern.
One-segment patterns and one-number PINs are not allowed. Still, the reported behavior appears to make the phone treat incomplete input as a failed unlock attempt. That can create another problem for affected users. Several failed attempts can temporarily lock the user out of the phone.
Google’s official PixelCommunity account has also seen the reports. The company’s support team has contacted affected users to help investigate the issue. The September Pixel Drop may have caused other performance problems as well. Owners of the Pixel 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are reporting increased lag after installing the update.
These reports suggest the latest Pixel update may need further fixes. Users who have not installed the September Pixel Drop may want to wait for a corrected version.
