Pixel 6 and 6 Pro: Google improves (a little) its fingerprint sensor which worked too badly

Updated

15 MB to simplify your life

Reading time: 2 minCorentin Bechade Corentin BechadeReading time: 2 min Corentin Bechade Corentin BechadeGoogle has just rolled out a minor update to its Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. The small fix is ​​supposed to improve the performance of the fingerprint sensor, which many owners have complained about.

Is your brand new Pixel 6 having some trouble unlocking with the fingerprint sensor? Google (maybe) has a solution for you.

The Pixel 6's fingerprint sensor improves (a little)

Since the start of their sales, many Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners have pointed to the performance of their fingerprint sensors, which are often too slow to unlock smartphones. On November 17, 2021, Google began rolling out an update to attempt to fix the issue. The file, which doesn't even weigh 15MB, started hitting US and Japanese phones first.

Google isn't very forthcoming about the content of this update, other than that it "includes minor bug fixes and some fingerprint sensor performance improvements for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro." The company had previously acknowledged that the fingerprint sensors in its new phones could be slower than those of the competition because they use "enhanced security algorithms".

The Pixel 6 Pro fingerprint sensor // Source: Photo Johana Hallmann for Numerama

The problem therefore seems software and Google hopes that this minor update will improve the experience. Let's hope this didn't come at the expense of those famous security algorithms. On Reddit, many Internet users indicate that the behavior of the fingerprint sensor has indeed improved a little, even if it is far from being as effective as those of ultra high-end mobiles from Samsung or others.

Finding the balance between efficiency and safety

This is probably due in reality to a mix between small software and hardware problems. Google actually uses an optical fingerprint sensor in its Pixels 6 while competing mobiles have ultrasonic fingerprint sensors. These fingerprint sensors are generally more secure, because they make a 3-dimensional scan of your fingerprint, while the first ones are simply based on a 2-D photo. of its optical sensor, which slows down the analysis a little. No doubt that Google is trying to find a balance between security and efficiency.

The update for European mobiles should arrive soon. If you are impatient, however, the XDADevelopers site has the update file available. Be careful though, installing an update by hand requires fiddling with the command line and the phone's debugging modes. Only attempt it if you are sure of what you are doing.

Find all the information on the Google Pixel 6 Pro

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Front page photo credit: Louise Audry for Numerama

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