Google forces battery-halving update on last Pixel 4a holdouts

Google introduced the Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program in early 2025, which is essentially a multi-faceted approach in response to device failure and overheating concerns. A battery-halving software update was a part of the program, and it essentially cut the capacity in half.

As expected, the Pixel 4a with the update installed offered poor battery runtimes, and given that the prior software builds were removed, users couldn't easily rollback to previous versions. That is, Google made it pretty clear that the update wasn't optional. The company also provided offers for a battery replacement and compensatory payouts, but many users found a way to not get their phones automatically updated.

Apparently, users were able to avoid the automatic update by disabling an option found in the Developer Options. However, as users are now reporting in the r/Pixel4a subreddit, Google has "forcefully" updated all the remaining Pixel 4a holdouts. That is, the Developer Options trick has been bypassed.

It's not clear how Google was able to get around the trick, but whatever the company did, it worked. The good part is that with this, the company was able to ensure that all the Pixel 4a phones running stock firmware are now safer from a catastrophic battery failure. Another thing to note is that all the 4a users are still eligible for Google's battery replacements, and the other offers from the company are still active.