Android 12 seems to be causing connectivity issues for some Google Pixel phones including Pixel 6

Ben Schoon | Dec 2 2021 - 6:53 am PT

Google Pixel 6 in Kinda Coral and Pixel 5 in Sorta Sage

Google’s Android 12 update is huge and exciting, but it also came with an unorthodox timeline and quite a few more bugs than usual. Now, it’s becoming pretty clear that Android 12 is also causing some connectivity/signal issues with Google Pixel phones, including the newly released Pixel 6 series.

A growing number of Pixel 6 owners on Reddit and Google’s forums are reporting that their phone is having connectivity issues, leaving the device without a cellular connection. Some have found that a reboot fixes the issue. The issue seems to take two forms, one with the SIM showing connectivity, but not actually connecting to LTE and/or 5G and having an exclamation point while connected to another network. For others, the phone simply reports that it has “no SIM.”

While the Pixel 6’s uncommon modem seems like an obvious culprit here, there are reports of nearly identical behavior on other, older Pixel phones, too. There are reports from Pixel 4 after upgrading to Android 12, Pixel 4a, and some other models. The majority of reports do seem to be on Pixel 6 devices.

Interestingly, the problem seems to have randomly started in the past few days for some people, hinting that perhaps a recent update or server-side change might be to blame, but there’s no confirmation of that.

One fix that some users have found is to turn off Google’s Adaptive Connectivity feature in the Settings menu. The option is meant to extend battery life by managing network connections, but for whatever reason it seems to be causing some trouble with Android 12. While we can’t verify this works, it seems to have some success among those affected.

We’ve also encountered this problem on our own Pixel 6 Pro, as pictured above. The issue seems to happen most frequently, as least in my experience, with Google Fi. Prior to the idea that Adaptive Connectivity may be the culprit, I’ve found success with rebooting the phone or turning off the SIM in the settings, but your results may vary. In many cases, I’ve noticed the issue simply resolves itself over time. I’ve also previously experienced this problem on the Pixel 5 using Fi, but only with the last few Android 12 beta updates.