[Updated] April patch resolves Pixel 2 battery drain/overheating, fails to fix WiFi issues

Update (July 30):

Google has fixed Pixel 2 WiFi connectivity issue. Read more here.

Update (April 30):

Going by latest reports, the Google Pixel 2 battery drainage mess got worse in April.

Original story:

Good news for Pixel 2 users annoyed and hassled by battery drainage and overheating issues introduced by the February update. The April security patch has reportedly resolved the problem. Lets take a detailed look at the matter:

Battery drainage and device overheating finally taken care of

So a couple of days back, Google pushed out the April security patch, which carries a lot of fixes. If you take a quick look at the change log, battery improvements have been mentioned for Pixel 2 and 2 XL. Considering that, we thought of checking if the update actually did the trick, and looks like it did.

For starters, users blamed the February security update for introducing battery issues on Pixel 2. Later on, a more detailed analysis by some of those affected revealed that the battery drainage had something to do with stuck processor cores.

Whatever the case, what’s now being reported by users on the relevant thread on the company’s official help forum is that these problems have finally been resolved with the April security update.

Here are some of the recent user comments confirming the same:

FWIW – My wife was experiencing less than expected battery performance since receiving her Pixel2. It failed miserably in comparison to the battery life I’ve been experiencing on my Android device running 8.0. I downloaded the update telegraphed by Dan134621 last evening, and this morning, got the message from my wife that it appears the battery is performing much better. Happy wife, happy life.

After downloading the new update just yesterday battery life has gone up. #Winning.

Early days but my battery drain has gone from around 4% per hour whilst idle to under 1% since updating this morning. So signs are good

Thanks, it seems a little better since I downloaded the update

It’s worth mentioning that some users are also saying that the issue is not fixed for them, but they are mostly first gen Pixel users, and the change log itself states the battery fix has been released for Pixel 2 and 2 XL only. So, looks like the wait isn’t over for original Pixel users yet.

WiFi connectivity issues remain unfixed

While the change log mentions a lot of connectivity improvements, the problem with random WiFi connection losses continues to exist. If you remember, in the later half of February, we highlighted the random, frequent, and repeated loss of WiFi connectivity on Pixel 2, wherein the phone lost WiFi connection, but continued showing connected to router.

Soon after the April patch started rolling out, some of the complainants called the issue resolved. But sadly, that’s not the case. The problem continues to persists as users who initially thought that the update fixed the mess, have confirmed the problem still stands. Here are some of the latest comments on the company’s issue tracking website, confirming the same:

At first I thought the April security patch had fixed it but sure enough, 24 hours later I saw wifi drop, connect and drop again about 3 times before becoming stable again.

Installed April 2018 update and the problem remains. No difference at all. I’m so disappointed in Google. I’ll never buy another device from them again.

I spoke too soon. It is better, but still not 100% fixed. After I woke up this morning, picked up phone and email wouldn’t sync, web page wouldn’t load until I toggled wifi on/off. I hate you Google.

To conclude, the April update doesn’t include fixes for all major problems plaguing Google’s Pixel series of devices, at least not for the WiFi issues on Pixel 2 and battery issues on first gen Pixels. We hope Google fixes these issues as well, and the sooner the better. What’s your take on the update? Do let us know in the comments section below.

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