Google's Pixel pocket-dialing nightmare is finally getting a fix

What you need to know

• A Google engineer has officially marked the long-standing accidental touch issue with Pixel phones as “fixed” in the company's issue tracker.
• This addresses complaints dating back to the Pixel 6, where phones would make emergency calls or launch apps while pocketed.
• The fix was not included in the December update, pointing to a release in early 2026 or the next Feature Drop.

Many Pixel users know the frustration of pulling their phone from a pocket only to find it has called someone, turned on the flashlight, or opened apps by itself. After years of complaints, Google is finally signaling that a fix is on the way, so Pixel owners may soon see the end of the dreaded pocket dialing.

This problem has been around for a while, which makes the upcoming change important. Since the Pixel 6, users have often reported their phones registering touches while locked and in their pockets.

Unlike some Android phones that rely on proximity sensors and motion data to suppress touch input when a phone is pocketed, Pixel devices never shipped with a true accidental touch prevention or pocket mode.

As time went on, frustration grew in Reddit threads and Google’s issue tracker. Owners shared stories of their phones dialing contacts without warning or waking the screen just enough to register unwanted touches.

The problem runs deep

For some, the most worrying part was accidental emergency dialing, an issue that’s not just annoying but potentially serious. Google has recognized the problem before, but real solutions never arrived, so users had to rely on workarounds like turning off gesture-based wake features and giving up convenience to avoid pocket mishaps.

Now, things are changing. A Google engineer recently updated the official issue tracker, marked the accidental touch prevention bug as “fixed,” and told users to look out for future software updates (via PiunikaWeb).

While the company hasn’t announced the feature publicly or detailed how it works, this status change strongly suggests that Google has implemented a system-level solution that better detects when a Pixel is in a pocket or enclosed space and suppresses touch input accordingly.

This fix isn’t included in the December Pixel update, and it hasn’t been released quietly through a server-side change. Instead, it looks like it will arrive in a future Android update or Pixel Feature Drop, possibly in early 2026.