It looks like the much-awaited Google Pixel 6a has arrived in the market with some of its major flaws. Again Google seems failed to deliver a complete package to the users even after so many years because this time the issue isn’t related to the display or speaker. The Google Pixel 6a has good performance, better cameras & build quality but the in-display fingerprint sensor raises security questions. Plenty of reports are coming out that Pixel 6a unlocks with unregistered fingerprints which can’t be trusted at all.
The handset has released on July 21, 2022, by Google, and the overall performance seems good enough. The Pure Android 12 OS and Google Tensor (5nm) chipset are really optimized for daily usage. It might be one of the best competitors under the $500 Android smartphone in the market right now. But Google keeps considering silly mistakes that fans can’t digest in any way.
The under-display fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 6a model is now a trending topic and becomes controversial because of the security flaw in fingerprint recognition. There are plenty of user reports and YouTube review videos are spreading over the internet that fingerprint recognition doesn’t work properly. Even the stranger people can put their thumb or finger on the screen to unlock Pixel 6a who haven’t registered their fingerprints. It’s a big mess for sure.
Now, the question arises whether this mid-ranger almost $500 smartphone is reliable and secured enough to use as a daily driver or not. Because the fingerprint recognition bug or issue is a major one that we can’t deny. For years, people keep reporting about the less-secured and sometimes useless Face Unlock feature on Android devices which isn’t developed properly. Just using face unlock via front camera without any security seems useless.
But people or users do believe that fingerprint sensors are quite reliable and secured no matter whether it’s a rear-mounted scanner or side-mounted scanner or an in-display fingerprint scanner. Though hardware-specific rear-mounted and side-mounted fingerprint scanners are quite good in terms of security, the under-display fingerprint sensor still has some flaws or loopholes.
A couple of days ago, one Redditor has posted two different YouTube videos about the Pixel 6a fingerprint scanning issue on the r/Android subreddit forum. It includes both the YouTube video links of YouTuber Geekyranjit and Beebom which clearly mentioned that unauthorized or unregistered users can also unlock the screen lock on Pixel 6a by using fingerprints.
Now, affected users and critics are asking Google whether they’ve cross-checked this security flaw in the development and testing phase or not. Because it’s happening to most of the Pixel 6a devices right now and we’re assuming that the same issue will happen with everyone with the first batch of manufacturing. However, it’s also worth mentioning that the same issue hasn’t happened yet while testing Pixel 6a by the Android Police team.
It may also be possible that this specific fingerprint unlocking bug is somehow appearing to any kind of software issue or using any local screen protector in some specific scenarios. As the device has just launched a week ago, it may take some time to get more reports on it from users on whether this issue is actually happening or not. The best part is that Google is active enough to iron out such software-centric issues with their speedy software updates. So, if the problem is real, they can definitely fix it.
