First update of the year for Google Pixel devices is already rolling out

Google is now rolling out the January 2025 update for all eligible Pixel devices. The Mountain View giant just shipped a stable QPR update last month, so don’t expect big changes and improvements on this one. The first update of the year for Pixel phones is mainly focused on resolving reported bugs and optimizing performance, as well as increasing the security patch level.

The changelog lists a number of bugs that were fixed in the update. Interestingly, most of these bugs affected the Pixel 8 series and later models. However, the full list of eligible phones includes the Google Pixel 6, Google Pixel 6 Pro, Google Pixel 6a, Google Pixel 7, Google Pixel 7 Pro, Google Pixel 7a, Google Pixel 8, Google Pixel 8 Pro, Google Pixel 8a, Google Pixel 9, Google Pixel 9 Pro, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Google Pixel Fold, and Google Pixel Tablet.

Bugs fixed in the January 2025 update for Google Pixel devices

The January 2025 update for Pixel phones devices fixed an issue related to delayed or unstable audio on certain apps. The company also resolved the instability of the camera viewfinder when switching to a connected camera that could occur under certain conditions. There was also an issue related to the sudden appearance of flashing lines on the screen under some conditions.

Google also mentions a bug related to the Android theme engine that prevented icons from adopting the color scheme of your wallpaper generated with the Pixel’s AI tool. Google had already sent out a fix for this issue with the December 2024 Pixel update. However, it seems that there were still users experiencing the problem. So, the firm has sent out a new one that will hopefully resolve things once and for all.

In particular, the camera and display issues were exclusive to the Pixel 9 series. The flashing lines on the screen were especially worrying. Many thought their device had a hardware problem.

Google is already rolling out the new firmware via OTA, so you should receive it soon. The company has also made the update available on Android’s website for those fans of manual flashing, though.