Products · Product
Google Pixel
Raised as a usability problem by 207 people on Hacker News over 13 years (2014–2026), in 136 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Phone laggy to interact with and has terrible battery lifeUnreviewed
20142026- Felt unintuitive to use compared with a Samsung replacement phone2026-08-19
- Phone is laggy and sometimes stays on a black screen indefinitely when turning on2026-01-27
- Pixel camera app has become worse, described as horrible2025-05-11
Fingerprint reader barely works, so unlocking is unreliableUnreviewed
20142026- Under-screen fingerprint sensor is a major downgrade, hard to use compared to rear sensor2025-09-03
- Locked out after inactivity; fingerprint fails and no recovery path for the owner2024-11-27
- Phone in car holder hides fingerprint reader, so it locks and is hard to unlock2024-08-14
Phone too large to use one-handed beyond basic tasksUnreviewed
20142026- Phone is too big and top-heavy to use one-handed and slides off surfaces2026-09-01
- Large 6+ inch phones are awkward to hold and operate one-handed2025-08-20
- Phone is too large to use one-handed for anything beyond basic tasks2024-08-13
Webpage scrolling stutters, bottom of screen lagging behind topUnreviewed
20142026- Scrolling is broken and images bounce around, making the page hard to get through2021-10-19
- Page elements animate and fly in, making scrolling choppy on a capable GPU2020-04-28
- Page stutters and scroll overrides make the text hard to read while scrolling2020-04-28
PIN unlock often does nothing, forcing repeated presses or restartsUnreviewed
20142026- Display often won't wake on notifications or pickup, and unlocking requires dragging the whole finger up, working only sometimes2025-07-11
- Screen unlock needs multiple taps and waits, first tap often fails2023-10-04
- Touches not registered on lock screen after waking, causing missed digits2023-07-28
Search bar appears across many apps with no way to hide itUnreviewed
20142026- Cannot remove the Google search bar, leaving redundant bars when using the Gemini widget2025-05-13
- Search bar appears across many apps with no way to hide or shrink it2024-05-17
- Search bar takes bottom screen space and can't be removed; At a Glance widget can't be removed and duplicates the date2022-09-02
Phone accidentally dials numbers and opens apps in pocketUnreviewed
20142026- Proximity sensor faulty, so the phone thinks it's in a pocket and won't wake the screen2025-08-21
- Phone accidentally dials random numbers and opens apps while in pocket2021-12-09
- Touchscreen activates from pocket contact, opening random apps and inputs2020-08-03
Keyboard covers most of the screen in landscape, corners hard to reachUnreviewed
20142026- Individual apps lack proper fold and tablet mode support, so layouts and keyboards work poorly2023-06-29
- On-screen keyboard covers most of the screen in landscape, and the taller screen makes reaching corners harder2022-07-29
- Popular apps force portrait mode or pillarbox the screen even with keyboard attached2016-02-18
Touch screen requires pressing harder for input to registerUnreviewed
20142026- Screen stops registering touches, making the phone unusable2024-05-07
- Touch screen requires pressing harder for input to register2018-11-01
- Rounded screen edges make touch input nearly impossible without a case2018-01-08
Face unlock fails at night or without glasses, unlocks unintentionallyUnreviewed
20142026- Face unlock fails two to three times a day on Pixel phone2020-11-11
- Face unlock fails with a mask, forcing typing a long password2020-08-04
- Face unlock fails at night, without glasses, and sometimes unlocks unintentionally2020-04-15
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Phone is too big and top-heavy to use one-handed and slides off surfaces2026-09-01
- The hack adds a gesture, creating friction in everyday use2026-08-21
- Web pages are hard to use on tiny vertical screens2026-08-20
- Felt unintuitive to use compared with a Samsung replacement phone2026-08-19
- Text is too big and input box and split keyboard are awkward2026-08-13
- Text and images clipped, page jumps, slow loads and repeated refreshes on phone2026-08-13
- Apps don't handle the aspect ratio change well when the phone is unfolded2026-08-12
- Unfolded screen leaves most space unused; Gmail compose area stays folded-size2026-08-12
- Browser tab reloads and loses checkout state after switching apps2026-07-05
- UI is overloaded with gestures; user is not motivated to disable the AI overlay gesture2026-04-17
- Shaking gesture accidentally dials 911 from pocket movement, with no warning to the user2026-03-31
- Can't share more than one image from WhatsApp to Telegram; no image copy in apps2026-02-14
- Phone is laggy and sometimes stays on a black screen indefinitely when turning on2026-01-27
- No way to open the terminal full-screen in DP-over-USB-C desktop mode2026-01-27
- Autocorrect changes correct Danish into incorrect Danish by splitting compound words2025-12-11
- Tiny toggle hit area; missing it opens alarm editor, forcing repeated attempts2025-10-25
- Under-screen fingerprint sensor is a major downgrade, hard to use compared to rear sensor2025-09-03
- Couldn't figure out how to do obvious things on the phone2025-09-03
- Confusing UI choices and weird functionality, seemingly from teams not coordinating2025-09-02
- Features are hidden behind extra button presses after the UI update2025-08-30
- Proximity sensor faulty, so the phone thinks it's in a pocket and won't wake the screen2025-08-21
- Notifications disappear unpredictably and grouped notifications behave randomly when tapped2025-08-21
- Back and recent apps buttons are flipped, hurting thumbs to use2025-08-21
- Always-On Display shows faint lines, so notifications are hard to spot at a glance2025-08-21
- Large 6+ inch phones are awkward to hold and operate one-handed2025-08-20
- UI becomes unresponsive, forcing user to power off; keyboard stops responding in Chrome2025-08-20
- 10x zoom is fairly difficult to control2025-08-20
- Display often won't wake on notifications or pickup, and unlocking requires dragging the whole finger up, working only sometimes2025-07-11
- HDR photos blast brightness so user must manually lower and raise it2025-06-18
- Swiping up too fast opens the full app list instead of the app switcher2025-06-14
- Can't see an overview or tell which features were already viewed; tiny unzoomable videos2025-06-11
- App overview switcher crashes the UI controls, forcing a restart2025-06-05
- Cannot remove the Google search bar, leaving redundant bars when using the Gemini widget2025-05-13
- Can't remove the date widget from the home screen2025-05-13
- Pixel camera app has become worse, described as horrible2025-05-11
- Music app shows new song playing but keeps playing the previous one2025-03-22
- Apps regularly need force kills and restarts to work properly2025-03-19
- Touch controls misfire as swipes or long-touches, making results unpredictable2025-02-18
- No way to find a supported repair shop; credit's review condition revealed only after irrevocable choice2025-01-29
- An update changed an accessibility feature and the user couldn't work out how to revert it2025-01-29
- Locked out after inactivity; fingerprint fails and no recovery path for the owner2024-11-27
- Task switch needs about five swipes and full-screen apps get stray gestures, while Maps needs many backs to reach home2024-09-28
- Can't find the current year in the clock app or settings2024-08-31
- Hard to select specific lens zoom levels and no quick reset to 1x2024-08-20
- Software is half-baked and crashes during first setup2024-08-17
- Date display takes an enormous amount of home screen space at the top2024-08-15
- AI phone tree navigation takes as long as listening to prompts, saving no time2024-08-14
- Gestures change between versions and unintended touches suddenly wipe out what the user is doing2024-08-14
- Phone in car holder hides fingerprint reader, so it locks and is hard to unlock2024-08-14
- Automated voice-to-voice call systems make customer support slow and frustrating, unlike direct callbacks2024-08-14