Pixel wireless charging battery drain after November update
A handful of Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL owners say their phones show a "Charging" or "Connected but not charging" status on a wireless pad while the battery percentage keeps falling instead of climbing. Some are describing it plainly: Pixel wireless charging battery drain after the November update (Android Authority, yesterday). The clearest reports come from Google's Support forums, and a Reddit user separately said wired charging kept working fine even while wireless charging failed (PhoneArena, today).
The complaints surfaced after Google's early-November Pixel rollout, which included a November 5 Pixel Drop and a separate November 10 update bringing Android 17 QPR2 (Android Authority, earlier this week; Android Authority, yesterday). Google has not publicly acknowledged the issue. Android Authority and Android Police both say they've contacted the company for comment, and PhoneArena notes there's still no official confirmation that a bug exists (PhoneArena, today; Android Police, yesterday).
So far this points to a timing link, not a confirmed update bug. Here's what owners have described, what Google's own changelog does and doesn't explain, and a quick way to check your own charger before assuming the worst.
What Pixel 10 owners are reporting
One detailed account comes from a Pixel 10 Pro XL owner on Google's Support forums, who says wireless charging stopped working correctly after installing the November 5 update. The owner tested several certified Qi2 chargers that had worked fine before the update, ran normal battery diagnostics, and got no fix from a hard reboot. "The screen says it's 'Charging,' but the light on the chargers I've tried does not turn on," the owner wrote (Android Authority, yesterday).
A separate Pixel 10 Pro report on the same forums describes a "Connected but not charging" status instead. That user noted that repositioning the phone on the pad or restarting it "sometimes" restores normal charging (Android Authority, yesterday).
Both named reports involve Pixel 10 Pro or Pro XL hardware specifically. PhoneArena says new cases are still showing up on the forums, with two additional reports appearing today, and also mentions separate complaints about faster battery drain in general, though the reporting doesn't establish whether those describe the same problem (PhoneArena, today).
Why a Pixel phone says charging but loses battery
Part of the confusion traces back to Google's rollout calendar. The November 5 Pixel Drop arrived first, bringing features like Pixel Solver, Create My Widget, and Gemini Call Screen aimed at the Pixel 10 series. Five days later, Google formally announced a separate November 2026 update for Pixel 6a and newer, carrying Android 17 QPR2 and rolling out in phases over the following week (Android Authority, earlier this week).
Because that rollout happened in stages, owners likely received it at different times, and the reporting doesn't pin the bug to one specific build. Android Authority says plainly that there's no concrete evidence linking the problem to either update beyond timing and user claims (Android Authority, yesterday).
There's also a narrower coincidence worth separating from the main complaint. Before this rollout, some Pixel phones occasionally displayed a charging indicator even when no charger was connected, and Google's changelog for the formally announced update lists a fix for exactly that: correcting "the charging indicator to display when no charger is connected under certain conditions" (Android Authority, earlier this week). That's a different symptom from a phone sitting on an active pad, appearing to charge, while the percentage visibly drops. PhoneArena frames it as Google patching one charging-indicator bug only to apparently introduce a similar one in its place, though nothing in the reporting confirms the two share a cause (PhoneArena, today).
What would confirm the November update is responsible
Nothing currently on record closes the loop between the update and the symptom. A few things would:
- A Google acknowledgment or Support page confirming the bug exists
- Reports tied to a specific build number rather than "the November update" broadly
- Reproduction across multiple Qi2 chargers and power adapters, not just individual accounts
- Confirmation that the behavior extends to Pixel models outside the 10 Pro and Pro XL
None of those exist yet, based on the reporting available so far (Android Police, yesterday). The closest thing to independent-feeling evidence is that wired charging reportedly kept working for at least one affected user even while wireless charging failed, which points toward the wireless radio or charging-detection logic rather than the battery itself. That's still a single account, though, not a confirmed pattern.
Android Authority has also logged unrelated user reports tied to the same update involving the always-on display, lock screen, notifications, and camera behavior, but nothing in that reporting establishes a shared cause with the charging complaints (Android Authority, today).
What to do if you're seeing this
Check the behavior directly: place the phone on the pad and watch whether the percentage actually rises over a few minutes rather than trusting the on-screen "Charging" label alone. One affected owner reported that removing a case, cycling through several previously working Qi2 chargers, and running battery diagnostics didn't change the outcome, and a hard reboot didn't help either (Android Authority, yesterday).
A separate owner said repositioning the phone on the pad or restarting it sometimes restored normal charging, though that's a workaround reported by one user, not a verified fix (Android Authority, yesterday). One Reddit user said wired charging continued to work, so a cable may serve as a reliable fallback if wireless charging looks inconsistent (PhoneArena, today).
Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL owners who depend on overnight wireless charging should test their pad right after installing the update rather than assume it still behaves as before. If the percentage drops instead of rising, switch to a cable, and treat any reboot or repositioning trick as a temporary workaround, not proof the problem is fixed. Keep an eye on Google's Support forums or a future Pixel changelog before assuming the issue has been patched; there's no indication yet of when, or whether, Google plans to address it.
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