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  • Workaround for Android 15 QPR2 fingerprint firmware glitch on Pixel 9 (non-Pro)

This information applies to the stock Pixel OS, GrapheneOS or another AOSP-based OS based on Android 15 QPR2 running on Pixel devices with the latest firmware updates. This issue appears to be specific to the non-Pro Pixel 9 variant as we have no reports of it happening on any other devices with GrapheneOS.

The fingerprint sensor firmware shipped with Android 15 QPR2 has a glitch occurring for certain Pixel 9 (non-Pro) users resulting in the fingerprint sensor not properly resetting itself after being updated. If fingerprint functionality is missing after updating, you can power off the device, wait a few seconds and power it back on to get it working again right away. It will also generally start working again after repeated reboots but you can avoid doing that by powering off completely.

The issue does not appear to occur again after the initial update but rather has something to do with moving to new firmware. It's a one time thing not impacting most people. You can find assorted reports of issues across platforms for the Android 15 QPR2 Beta releases along with the stable release this month. It was not fixed before the stable release despite various reports of it, likely because they couldn't replicate the issue on any device if the reports even got through to their development team at all.

We don't currently know the cause but it seems the sensor is sometimes stuck using old firmware until being fully powered off.

    Not sure if this related with bug above since nobody mentions, so for some reasons when I tried loggin by typing the password on second profile after switching from owner profile, it always tell that my password was incorrect, but I am sure it corrected! So my workaround was I tried turn off the screen with pressing power button, then pressed to turn the screen on again, so typing again its works!!!

    English isn't my first Languages! My appologize.

    Powered off multiple times, still no fingerprint reader

    Just to add, I also seem to be missing fingerprint reader after this update. Have attempted to power off and then restart the device a few times now. On a Pixel 9.

      chaunbot hmm, thanks for the update. I will try powering off a few more times and update here if worked!

        So, still not fingerprint scanner. As it seems to be quite a rare glitch, and my device is still usable, I will just keep using my device as normal and if the fingerprint functionality returns I will update here.

        Update: fingerprint reader is now working again. This comes after a number of power offs, and reboots.

          Lilac6044 same thing here, I had to reboot once again after "Apps optimization" process and reboot to get the fingerprint sensor (and settings) available.

            Hi, I am impacted as well. Performed 8-10 restarts and reboots but still impacted.
            I will just continue until it works.

            ... and now issue resolved on my side. I am back to normal, thanks again for the information.

            And thank you for the proactive communication. I saw this message before the update was triggered on my phone and it allowed me to immediately know what was the issue and to perform remediation.

            I'm happy to report that restarting the phone 5x in a row and then doing a full shutdown for several minutes resolved the issue on the next startup. Appreciate the devs for investigating and reporting on this issue.

            We've adjusted our estimate of how many people it impacts to 1/1000. It's very rare but it's hard to know how rare. It's definitely not 1% of people or there would be far more reports.

            I report the same issue.

            I did not report because it seemed like it's a bug upstream.

            It's possible this only impacts 9th generation Pixels in which case our initial 1/5000 estimate was probably accurate based on most users not being on 9th generation Pixels.

            Hmm; I may have spoken too soon. Upon another reboot, the fingerprint functions have again disappeared. While it was working briefly, fingerprint functions within apps was flaky / intermittent.