Android 17 users are running into some strange problems with Wi-Fi data in certain apps

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Android 17 has arrived, with Google’s latest major platform release hitting stable just yesterday. Owners of Pixel phones have already started upgrading, trying out all the new features like Bubbles and more. And while this should be a fun time for Android fans, more than a few are having a rough go of things, as they encounter some very strange problems with Wi-Fi connectivity across multiple apps.

We’re seeing reports across Reddit from users of devices ranging from the Pixel 7 to Pixel 10 series describing similar problems: After updating to Android 17, their phones appear to still connect to their Wi-Fi networks, but certain apps no longer seem able to use it, instead only functioning when there’s mobile data present.

Impacted users note that Google apps appear to be affected by this glitch the most, although some still seem able to function over Wi-Fi. While we’ve seen a few theories about what could be behind this problem — and how to fix it — one of the most promising involves settings for IPv6.

If your home router offers an option to toggle IPv6 support on and off, there’s a chance you’re seeing this issue because it’s currently disabled, and restoring normal app Wi-Fi connectivity could be as simple as switching it on.

That said, we have tried recreating this problem for ourselves by turning IPv6 and mobile data off, and we weren’t able to experience the same problem. That doesn’t necessarily mean that IPv6 support isn’t a root component of the issue, but that the circumstances that lead to it could be a bit more complicated than we know.

Considering that Android 17 has been testing in Beta releases for the past four months, to say nothing of all the testing going on with the Android Canary track, it’s a little frustrating that a bug this debilitating, and seeming to affect so many apps, still managed to sneak through the cracks. Hopefully Google’s able to get to the bottom of this one soon — whether it’s an IPv6 dependency or something else entirely — and fix things so that Android 17 users aren’t forced to burn through mobile data just to use their favorite apps.

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