Google Pixel 'Device diagnostics' is gone for now, but it may return in future

If you’re someone who gets a thrill from tapping through new settings and peeking under the hood of your Pixel phone, Google had quite the treat for you — at least, for a short while. Android 15 Beta 4 brought a new ‘Device diagnostics’ option to Pixel phones, letting you dive deeper into your device’s battery health and component status. You could check everything from the battery’s cycle count to its first usage date. But, just as swiftly as it appeared, the feature reportedly vanished with Beta 4.2.

Let’s backtrack a bit. Pixel users already had access to basic Battery diagnostics, but with Android 15 Beta 4, Google cranked things up a notch by adding a more advanced ‘Device diagnostics’ feature under Settings > System > Device diagnostics. Alongside battery details, like its manufacturing date and cycle count, you could run manual tests on your display and touch input, helping to spot potential defects. It even gave you an option to assess the health of another device, complete with a quirky QR code scan to verify it.

Sounds awesome, right? Well, in true Google fashion, the feature wasn’t long for this world. Beta 4.2 rolled in, and poof — no more ‘Device diagnostics’. Confused users turned to Google Issue Tracker to voice their frustrations, and Google’s engineers finally weighed in.

As it turns out, this wasn’t a glitch in the Matrix; it was intentional. In a message that’s equal parts cryptic and optimistic, Google labeled the issue “Won’t Fix (Intended Behavior)” and hinted that while they’re toying with the idea of high-quality diagnostics, this particular version didn’t make the cut.

So, what’s the takeaway? Google is still figuring out how to offer more robust diagnostics on Pixel phones, and they’re not quite there yet. But hey, at least the dream of better battery insights isn’t completely dead—it’s just resting. For now, we’ll have to be content with the basic diagnostics Pixel users already know, while holding out hope for the return of a sleeker, more powerful diagnostics tool in the future. And if you were lucky enough to catch the ‘Device diagnostics’ feature before it disappeared, well, consider yourself part of an exclusive beta club.

For those eager, the stable Android 15 update is just a couple of weeks away, so hang in there.