Not being on fire is a performance program Google Pixel 4as painful update was due to battery overheating risk Australia made explicit risks of "fire and/or burns" for non-updated 4a models. Kevin Purdy Mar 10, 2025 11:18 am | 17 Removing the Pixel 4a's battery can be painful, but not as painful as catching fire. Credit: iFixit Removing the Pixel 4a's battery can be painful, but not as painful as catching fire. Credit: iFixit Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreGoogle didn't explain exactly why it shipped a mandatory software update to the Pixel 4a, an Android phone from 2020, earlier this year. The nature of that update, which gave some models all but unusable battery life, provided some clues, as did later software analysis. But now, Australian authorities have provided a more concrete answer: battery overheating and fire risk.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Product Safety arm issued a recall for the Pixel 4a late last week. The reason, the commission said, is that Google's firmware update and battery changes served to "mitigate the risk of overheating" because "an overheating battery could pose a risk of fire and/or burns to a user." Do you own this product? Credit: ACCC Product Safety Do you own this product? Credit: ACCC Product Safety In the US and elsewhere, Google's messaging did not use the term "recall." Google stated on its "Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program" page that "certain" Pixel 4a models "require a software update to improve the stability of their batterys performance," which also "reduces available battery capacity and impacts charging performance." Google said it is still safe to charge a Pixel 4a.Australia's notice does not offer any remedies beyond what Google has offered and functionally serves as notice that it's important to update the devices. The same support page for checking if your Pixel 4a is affectedand receiving a remedy in either payment, a battery replacement, or Google Store creditis linked from the ACCC's web notice. Google's support page notes that its update and remedy options are separate from statutory rights provided in various countries.Google's update to affected Pixel 4a devices drastically reduced their charging potential, essentially by half. One Ars staffer saw their Pixel 4a battery life drop to less than two hours on a full charge. Code in the updated Pixel 4a kernel, examined by noted hardware analyst Hector Martin, suggested that batteries had either "ATL" or "LSN" profiles. Those with the LSN tagpotentially the battery cell maker Lishenhad their charging capacities capped.Ars has asked Google for comment on the Australian recall notice and its own support page and will update this post if we get a response.Kevin PurdySenior Technology ReporterKevin PurdySenior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 17 Comments