Pixel Buds' ANC and transparency controls are pulling a disappearing act

With modern wireless earbuds, the magic no longer lies in the device's sound quality. Most of them already offer a top-of-the-line experience with diminishing returns. However, where most modern earbuds truly differentiate themselves is in the software department.

Features like active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency are the bread and butter of modern earbuds, and when they stop working seamlessly, the entire experience falls apart.

That's exactly what some Pixel Buds owners are reporting right now.

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For reference, Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel Buds 2a, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 owners have the option to switch between ANC and transparency mode simply by physically tapping their earbud. This method currently works as intended.

Alternatively, users can also switch between the modes using their paired smartphone's volume slider menu. This method currently doesn't work as intended.

The bug was reported by frustrated users on Reddit (via Android Authority).

According to users, the expanded volume sliders' ANC and transparency toggles are either entirely missing, or, if present, aren't functioning as they should. If present, tapping the buttons simply summons a blank white bar at the bottom of the screen.

Users have tried rebooting their device, clearing cache and app data for the Pixel Buds app, re-pairing the buds, and other common troubleshooting steps, but nothing seems to fix the issue.

It's worth noting that the toggles still appear within the Pixel Buds app, but opening the app every time you need to change the mode isn't really a seamless experience.

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The bug seems to have first appeared with the March 2026 update. Some users report that the April update fixed the issue for a day, only for the bug to soon reappear.

Google knows of the issue, and, in a reply, suggested all the common troubleshooting steps. None of those steps, as mentioned above, seem to fix the issue.

We'll update this story if and when Google fixes the issue.