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Helpful charging feature first found in Pixel 5 was removed from the Pixel 9 series

By Alan Friedman

Published: Sep 01, 2024, 11:15 PM

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Helpful charging feature first found in Pixel 5 was removed from the Pixel 9 series

From the Pixel 5 through the Pixel 8 series, users could take advantage of a feature called Battery Share which most of us know as reverse wireless charging. If you were hanging out at the local bar and your friend told you that his phone's battery was about to run out, you could flip your phone and have it placed face down on the table. Your friend's phone, if it supported wireless charging, could be placed back-to-back with your Pixel, and your pal's device would get charged by using your phone as a wireless charging pad.

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Now you must understand that since your Pixel's battery is driving the reverse wireless charging, your phone will take a battery hit for helping out your friend. That is, unless you're able to plug in your Pixel. Doing so will allow your phone's battery to charge even while you help your friend replenish the battery on his device. When you think about it, plugging in your Pixel while using it as a wireless charging pad is no different than plugging in and using a regular wireless charging pad or charging stand.

Battery Share won't work on the Pixel 9 series when you're charging the phone. | Image credit-Forbes

But this year, Google has made a big change to the feature. If you charge your Pixel 9 series handset while Battery Share is enabled, the feature will shut down with a little message that says, "Battery Share is unavailable during charging." This message will pop up even if the battery powering your Pixel 9 series phone is fully charged. Before this change was made, you could help your friend charge his battery without draining yours. But with the Pixel 9 series, if you help out your buddy, your battery takes it on the chin.

While Google didn't say why it decided to make this change on the Pixel 9 series, it possibly was done to prolong the life of the battery that powers each Pixel 9 series phone. Charging the cell while using it to charge another device wirelessly can't be good for the longevity of that battery. By the way, the foldable Pixel phones do not support Battery Share at all.

And here's an interesting trivia question. Do you know which phone was the first to offer reverse wireless charging? It was the Huawei Mate 20 Pro which was released in 2018.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.