Is the Pixel 9 fingerprint scanner broken? Here’s what I’m going to do

One of the most important things you can do as smartphone users is to install all your latest updates. Updated software not only adds new features, but often fixes old errors, closes security holes, and usually generally make our phones more stable and fun to use. At least that’s the way it is assumed to work. In recent days, however, a small number of pixel users have reported a very strange error that appears to be caused by the recent March updateBreaks the fingerprint scanner on their phones.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this problem is how incredibly rare it seems to be – you can ask 100 pixel users about their recent update experience, and the odds are that they all want to tell you that it went well. But over at Grapheneos Fora, the official account for the Open Source project has collected Intel on this problem, which it estimates affects about 1 in 1000 phones.

Far it seems that Pixel 9 is the most vulnerable there, although this seems to not affect the same way Pixel 9 Pro. We also tracked up a few reports of problems with older pixel phones, such as Reddit users Singularity_PoPinter and Qewpathwhich got the same problem on pixel 8 phones.

If you are affected by this error, after installing the Mars Update, your phone works as it no longer has a fingerprint scanner. Options for the scanner disappear from phone settings, and the hardware no longer works responsive when trying to use it.

The good news is that this is not permanent and that the solution is relatively simple – if not a little mysterious. Basically, just turn off the phone. Reset will not cut it – you have to hit yourself completely. And when you rise again, the fingerprint scanner should work again. A number of the reports we have seen mentioned have to repeat that cycle a handful of times before it finally clicks, but when it does, you should have nothing more to worry about.