{"id":289756,"date":"2026-02-10T02:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289756\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T02:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:32:19","slug":"for-a-while-i-thought-it-was-rocks-hitting-my-windshield-pixel-owners-share-their-popping-sound-horror-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289756\/","title":{"rendered":"‘For a while I thought it was rocks hitting my windshield’: Pixel owners share their popping sound horror stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, several reports surfaced<\/a> claiming that the Google Pixel 10<\/a> was emitting “extremely loud” popping sounds. We discovered that the issue apparently goes back years, as far back as the Pixel 6<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sound appears to happen randomly when you open or close apps.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Between comments and emails, we received similar complaints from Tom’s Guide readers.<\/p>\n

“For a while I thought it was rocks hitting my windshield on the freeway,” reader Adam Roy commented.<\/p>\n

Other readers reported that similar issues plagued the Pixel 8 Pro<\/a> and the Pixel 9 Pro<\/a>. Confirming reports we read elsewhere, MoritifedGoose said that it mostly happened when they opened games on their Pixel 9, even with the volume off.<\/p>\n

For a while I thought it was rocks hitting my windshield on the freeway.<\/p>\n

Adam Roy<\/p>\n

The oldest device reported to us was the Pixel 7 Pro<\/a>, on which the popping sound appeared only while they were using TikTok.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

“I thought either there was something wrong with a software update, hardware, or Voice Assistant listening in, but never could get it to stop,” reader KrankyKorok said.<\/p>\n

One reader emailed to report the issue and said they resolved it by lowering the volume.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got the 9 Pro XL myself, and I have noticed this problem as well. It’s definitely not limited to the newer models,” reader Reese said in an email.<\/p>\n

Silent Google<\/p>\n

\n

\"Google\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Google has remained frustratingly silent. While researching the issue, we did reach out to Google about the popping issue, but we have yet to hear from the company.<\/p>\n

Digging through official support forums and subreddits, I couldn’t find any instances of Google support or mods responding with solutions or suggestions.<\/p>\n

One “Silver product expert” on the Google support forums suggested <\/a>the sound was due to “the floating element of the camera stabilisation system,” which can produce such sounds, and asserted it was “normal for Pixel devices.”<\/p>\n

Other suggestions<\/p>\n

\n

\"Google\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Evan Blass)<\/p>\n

I’ve seen suggestions that it’s something to do with the apps themselves, which might be a developer issue. However, because it’s widespread across multiple phone models, it suggests that it’s something more than just random apps.<\/p>\n

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n

Tom’s Guide reader Matteo Crone had this suggestion, “This can happen when voltage through the speakers change instantly it’s most likely a power regulator or smart MOSFET issue if you will this could be due to the phone stoping supply of power to the speakers briefly to save battery.”<\/p>\n

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If that is the case, it means it’s a hardware and software issue with Pixel phones that Google needs to fix.<\/p>\n

Whether Google knows this is an issue or is implementing a fix remains unknown, as the company remains silent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"Google\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a> and add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. <\/p>\n

More from Tom’s Guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, several reports surfaced claiming that the Google Pixel 10 was emitting “extremely loud” popping sounds. We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[61,60,202,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-289756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}