With the Pixel 6a now available in stores, some buyers have noticed that any fingerprint can unlock their new phones in a rather alarming security lapse on Google’s part.
Last weekend, two reports surfaced from India about the Pixel 6a’s under-display fingerprint sensor (UDFPS) that allows anyone to unlock. This includes people who have not registered their fingerprints ahead of time.
Today alone, after the Pixel 6a launched in 13 countries, there have been – so far – six additional reports about it. These range from being able to unlock with a different finger that isn’t registered to being able to unlock another person’s 6a. One person said that the problem did not reappear after removing all saved fingerprints and adding them again.
Most buyers don’t seem to have this problem with the Pixel 6a. We thoroughly tested four Pixel 6a devices and were unable to reproduce the issue. This suggests that only some phones are affected and points to a hardware issue with Google changing the sensor for the 6a.
The fact that this is happening with actual units being shipped to customers is disturbing. However, the software (or hardware) between the review and retail units does not appear to differ. On Thursday, Google released an update that brings the Pixel 6a to the June security patch, up from the April one. However, manual install builds are only available in Japan and for Verizon. As of Saturday, we’re still waiting for the global update and a version for AT&T and T-Mobile phones.
It’s not clear if this update will fix the problem or if there’s a deeper hardware issue on the affected phones. This could be a case of a bad batch of fingerprint sensors. If indeed this is the case, replacements will need to be sent. Hopefully, Google will be able to proactively identify what devices are affected and automatically start the process. Meanwhile, a bug in the software would make for an easier fix for all parties involved.
As a short-term solution, those with this problem can disable fingerprint unlock (Settings app > Security > Fingerprint unlock > delete) and simply use a PIN or password to unlock. From what we can gather today, this problem doesn’t pop up out of the blue, and you either have it or you don’t.
9to5Google reached out to Google for comment today, but did not hear back before we went to press.
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