WiFi and battery problems (Pixel 6a)

Sagichnicht

So, setting DNS to "off" actually DID fix the problem for me. Not a long term solution though :/

n3t_admin

Sagichnicht why is it not a long term solution?

Sagichnicht

n3t_admin Because I want to use a different DNS.

But anyway, I spoke too soon and the problem reoccured, even though it was working for MUCH longer than before. I will try different MAC settings now

bitrate

Sagichnicht Same, problem still exists for me as well with Private DNS off.

hydrophene

I have written a brief post about my issues here: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/26565-huge-battery-degradation-on-pixel-9/7

a211120

Glad to finally find a post about this, I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong with my GOS Pixel 8. Seeing similar symptoms: Intermittent connection failures on WiFi, with apps usually reporting a "No address associated with hostname" exception but sometimes "Network not available". I think the problems started with the latest release but I can't be 100% sure.

I do not have any apps installed that should interfere with network connections (VPN, firewall etc.).

I do also notice a significantly increased battery drain although I previously didn't connect the two issues.

Things I tried:

Restart phone as well as wifi/internet router
Fully reset Bluetooth & Wi-Fi settings from "Reset options" menu
Disable private DNS
Disable per-connection randomized MAC

None of these fixed the problem.

The only thing that does seem to affect it is going off WiFi and using 5G instead, I've not been able to reproduce the problem there.

mandlia

Pixel 6A user here, can confirm I experience the same issue. Probably since a week or so back, I update quickly usually when there is an available update.

GrapheneOS

mandlia Earlier this month is when the Pixel 6a battery mitigation was shipped. You likely have one of the faulty batteries which needs to be replaced.

PixelVoyager

I've had the same problem with Wi-Fi on my Pixel 9a. Following your advice, I set the private DNS to off, restarted, and it finally worked.

I hope there will be an update soon to fix these issues.

mandlia

Unfortunately, setting the Private DNS setting to off does not solve this issue for me.

GrapheneOS

Sagichnicht You need to check if your Pixel 6a has one of the faulty batteries posing a fire hazard which are now detected and throttled since the Android 16 QPR1 kernel update earlier this month. That's a standard Android feature present on the stock OS since July 2025, but we got it late in September 2025 due to the recent AOSP mess since we didn't want to ship a different kernel for the Pixel 6a to ship it earlier.

mandlia

GrapheneOS Oh, thanks for this pointer, I had missed it. Also, I haven't seen any warnings in notifications, but my cycle count is 700+ so I guess I'm affected. Will check with the reseller, I'm in Sweden.

GrapheneOS

Sagichnicht 830 is far over the 400 threshold where throttling is applied to the subset of Pixel 6a devices with faulty batteries. You need to confirm that's not the issue. Are you aware of the free battery replacement program for the Pixel 6a due to the faulty batteries?

Sagichnicht

GrapheneOS
Yes, I'm aware and waiting for a response from Google.

I updated to the new release yesterday and I'm currently sitting at 65% with a SOT of 2h17, which means it's on course for a SOT of 6.5h, which is very good for a battery this old. The battery stats might be overly optimistic here from the updating process.

The package loss on WiFi, that was described here and in other threads, has not reoccured for me as of yet, which doesn't necessarily mean it's gone, but it's likely.

Sagichnicht

Sagichnicht to add to that: the battery stats are messed up. I can only see the bars for 9:00-10:00, 10:00-12:00, but there's no bar for 12:00-14:00. Its 14:32 right now. It's only showing a SOT of 2:08h, because that what I used 09:00-12:00

a211120

Got the 2025091900 release today and I'm pleased to find that the connection issues appear to have been resolved. Major relief since it was very disruptive for me, so big thanks to those who contributed to fixing it.

First impression is that the battery problems are also resolved but time will tell. The 80% charge limitation is working again for sure.

de0u

a211120 a211120 Sagichnicht

Thanks for the reports! I'm sure the @GrapheneOS developers are pleased to hear good news.

Sagichnicht

I've installed the release as soon as it came out and I haven't seen any package loss as of yet, so it's very likely it's fixed (not entirely sure how, reading the changelog).
Regarding the battery, I'm on track for a 5h SOT, which is great considering my capacity is estimated to be between 2,400 and 2,700 mAh (6a, apparently reduced capacity due to faulty battery).

bitrate

I've had the most recent update installed for about 12 hours now and so far things seem back to normal with my wifi connection.

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