Survey says thousands of users still waiting for the Pixel January 2026 update

On January 12, Google issued an update to Pixel phones to address a host of bugs and introduce minor improvements to core functionality. For one, the update targeted battery drain while also taming unruly ringback tones. But while a dozen Pixel devices should’ve received the update, not everyone’s device did.

Several days later, users online noted that they still hadn’t received a peep of a patch on their devices, but we weren’t aware of how many of our readers were affected. So, we ran a poll, and it turns out that Google Pixel’s update delays are more prevalent than you probably think.

Of the 1,690 votes we received on this survey, more than 4 in 5 Pixel users (80.7%) haven’t yet received the update. Considering the sheer number of supported Pixels and the fact that we ran this poll 10 days after Google issued the update, makes this incredibly worrying.

Notably, just over 19% of readers have received the update in that time, but that’s a firm minority receiving grace from Google.

While I don’t doubt that Google will eventually push updates to all eligible devices, reader jimfeatherstone1 highlights the real issue with such delays:

I’ve the Pixel 10 Pro XL and received the update 2 days ago with the security update dated January 5th. Google doesn’t release updates as fast as they had advertised in the past, I thought having updates before other phones was one of their selling points

Some have resorted to alternative update measures. Commenter martin.skates1977 explains:

Initially, my Pixel 10 said ‘Preparing System Update…’ but then reverted to ‘Up to date’. There was no update after two days, so I sideloaded it (my first time) to the latest EMEA build. It takes about 20 minutes, so as long as you understand and carefully follow the instructions, you are good to go.

Of course, sideloading an update every time it’s delayed just isn’t feasible.

Notably, some of you who voted in our poll early may have received the update since you cast your ballot. If you are one of these people, or have received the update on your particular device and haven’t voted, do detail your story in the comments below.