What does the flashing light on your Google Pixel mean while charging?

If you’re wondering why your Google Pixel is blinking, the answer depends heavily on what generation of Pixel you have and what type of blinking you’re seeing. A screen flashing a certain color when connected to a charger can be very different from flickering and waking up repeatedly. Some features can also cause the flashlight on the back of your phone to blink, and if you have a first or second generation Pixel phone, you may be wondering what the flashing red light means.

A flashing red light on your Pixel 1 or Pixel 2 means the phone’s battery is completely drained. This can happen when you haven’t used the phone for a long time and indicates that it needs to be recharged before you can use it again. If the red light stays on even after leaving it charging for a while, it probably means your phone isn’t charging. Either there is a problem with the battery or you are using a faulty charger or cable. Switching to a different charging brick or using a Google-certified cable solves the latter problem, but if it doesn’t, you’ll probably need to replace your phone’s battery.

One method to get your phone out of this state is to use Fastboot mode. Hold down the Power and Volume Down buttons until the Fastboot menu opens, then reset the phone from there. Alternatively, if it is a system issue, you can perform a factory reset.

Another thing that can happen while you’re charging your Google Pixel phone is that the screen flickers and turns on and off. This is often accompanied by slower charging times or the phone refusing to charge altogether, but not always. The reason is that your Pixel repeatedly disconnects from the charger, causing the screen to wake up every time it reconnects.

This is incredibly dangerous, as it can cause permanent degradation of your phone’s battery. The problem most often occurs with faulty cheap chargers, which is why you should never get cheap charging bricks. Likewise, a bad USB-C cable may be to blame here, and switching to a different charger and cable may resolve the issue.

Even if you’re sure you’re using a good charger from a reputable brand, it’s still a good idea to change it to make sure the charger isn’t at fault, as users online are reporting that some chargers that work well with other phones cause this issue on Pixels, like some from Anker. If the problem persists even with different chargers, it’s worth cleaning your phone’s charging port before sending it in for repair or considering replacing it.

Your blinking Google Pixel isn’t always due to a problem; Sometimes this is a feature you may have accidentally enabled. Your phone may flash to alert you of incoming notifications if the Flash notification setting is enabled.

There are two separate toggles in Flash notifications. If it’s your Google Pixel’s flashlight or camera that’s flashing, that means the camera’s flash is on. This causes the flashlight on the back of your phone to blink every time you receive a notification, receive a call, or set off an alarm. Likewise, your Pixel’s screen may flash a color (green, yellow, blue, among others) if you receive a notification while charging with the screen flash enabled.

You can disable either feature from the Settings app on your Pixel smartphone. Open the app, scroll down until you find Flash notifications, then turn off the enabled one from here. You can also turn this option off in the Accessibility menu in Settings.