Google appears to be fixing the fingerprint authentication issues that have plagued the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro since their launch with a sudden mid-month update.

Normally, Google delivers updates for Pixel phones at the beginning of each month, but the company is breaking form by delivering a small, undocumented OTA update for Pixel 6 phones. The build number is SD1A.210817.037, up slightly from the .036 that preceded it.

This is particularly unusual given that Pixel already received its monthly security update on November 5. This mysterious update does not include any official patch notes, leaving Pixel owners to guess what will be changed.

Thankfully, Verizon was a bit more forthright and clarified the nature of the update. The support page states, "The current software update will improve the performance of the fingerprint sensor on your device."

Those who have received the update seem impressed. One Redditor writes: "I've been using fp reader for 5 years now. 'I was able to open 5 different apps that use the fp reader. Before, it was 1 in 10 times if I didn't exit and use my PIN. The index finger that was only scanned once was unlocked on the second try. I'm sure I could do better scans, but enough is enough."

While none of the Pixel 6 users in the office have received the patch - "Check for Updates" doesn't seem to trigger the 14.56MB download - the promise of improved fingerprint performance is very welcome.

Our editor-in-chief, Roland Moore-Collier, discovered the scanner's quirkiness fairly early on, and reports of slowness have since been reported on the web by early adopters. In our tests, increasing touch sensitivity did not solve the problem.

Google initially claimed that the slow performance was merely a side effect of the Pixel 6's much-hyped "enhanced security algorithm." If the update does indeed noticeably improve performance, as early reviews suggest, one would hope that Google has found a way to do so without compromising security.

There is another possible improvement, but so far it has not been confirmed. Last week, Pixel 6 owners were encountering an issue where the fingerprint reader stopped functioning completely when the battery was completely empty. A factory reset is the only way to address this, and hopefully today's patch will address it, but as of this writing, there is no confirmation anyway.

Despite this issue, the Pixel 6 is still a killer Android phone. In fact, the Google Pixel 6 is the Android phone Roland has been waiting for. And so far, he has not been disappointed.