As sure as night follows day, early bugs and issues seem to follow the launches of even the best smartphones – and it seems that certain Google Pixel 9 Pro XL handsets might be having a variety of problems related to Bluetooth connections.
The team at Android Police has done a good job of rounding up the reported issues, which cover problems with range, unstable audio connections, and difficulty getting phones to stay hooked up to Android Auto dashboards in vehicles.
It's difficult to assess just how widespread these issues are – they certainly didn't come up in our comprehensive Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review – but there are several threads on Reddit and the Google support forums registering complaints.
"I've been using the Pixel Buds Pro without problems for the past two weeks and now it has terrible range all of a sudden for some reason," writes one Redditor for example, with several others chiming in on the same thread.
Can we fix it?
As yet, there's been no official word from Google on these problems – we asked it for a response and will update this story when we hear back. However, one of the complaints has been logged in Android's bug tracker, and acknowledged by Google, which suggests the engineering team is looking into it at least.
If you're having problems yourself, a few different solutions have been suggested by those affected so far. Make sure you're running the latest software on your phone and on your connected Bluetooth devices, for a start.
Turning off ultra-wideband (UWB) also seems to help, at least temporarily. You can do this by going into Settings in Android, then choosing Connected devices and Connection preferences to find the ultra-wideband option.
While most complaints have been about the Pixel Pro 9 XL, some users seem to be having trouble with the Pixel 9 Pro and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as well. However, the Google Pixel 9 – which doesn't have UWB technology built-in – doesn't appear to be affected.
