If Your Updated Pixel Is Glitching, Try These Workarounds
If you’re having trouble swiping on your Pixel or using the on-screen navigation buttons, you’re not alone. It appears that with last week’s Android 16 update, Google inadvertently introduced a bug for some Pixel users that’s now making it difficult to navigate their new version of Android — no matter which navigation method they use.
As Android Headlines reports , the complaints are spreading to social media sites and forums like X and Reddit . Some claim that the navigation buttons on their Pixel have become completely unresponsive, while others are experiencing delays of around 30 seconds (if not more) every time they try to tap a button. Still others are having issues with navigation gestures — Android Police founder Artem Rusakovsky points out that swiping back , which is supposed to take the user back to the previous page or app, just randomly does nothing.
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To be clear, this bug doesn’t seem to be affecting most Pixel users running Android 16. In fact, some users on these Reddit threads are confirming that their Pixels running Android 16 are working as expected. One user even said that they had the opposite experience, that their Pixel 9 Pro XL feels “super smooth,” in response to a Pixel 6 owner who said their device is now unusable.
Still, it’s a huge pain in the ass for any phone owner with this glitch. Don’t get me wrong: There was a time when we were willing to wait 30 seconds or more after asking our computers to perform a function. But those days are long gone. Modern smartphones are specifically designed to be fast, smooth, and responsive. Even a short delay between an input and the corresponding action feels like a bad user experience, so painfully slow lags, let alone a completely unresponsive user interface, are unacceptable in 2025.
Troubleshooting Navigation on Pixel
There is currently no official solution to this issue. However, after scrolling through forum posts, I see some workarounds to fix the issue and get your Pixel working again.
For example, the original author of this Reddit thread later commented that changing the Android launcher fixed the glitches. The author of the OP went back to the Pixel launcher from Nova, which surprised him, since he had been using Nova for the past decade without problems. One of the replies said they had a similar problem while using Nova.
While this may be a compatibility issue with Nova and Android 16, it seems to be beyond Nova itself. Another Pixel owner using Pixel Launcher encountered the same issue and shared their solution : First, pull down the navigation bar twice to access the settings button in the bottom-right corner. Then, go to Apps > All Apps > Pixel Launcher , then select Force Stop.
Could this be a general issue with launchers on Android 16? Possibly, but we won’t know for sure until Google officially addresses the issue. The official PixelCommunity Reddit account contacted one OP about the issue, so hopefully the company will release a patch quickly.