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We’ve all been there. You’re working on a document or a spreadsheet, or using email, and BAM! One of your Microsoft Office applications starts acting weird or stops responding.

Please relax, and don’t give in to panic or upset. This sort of thing does occur from time to time, and it is often quite easy to repair.

Common issues with Microsoft Office apps

Whether you have a Microsoft 365 subscription or a perpetual-license version of Office (such as Office 2019 or 2021), these are some typical problems you might encounter that would necessitate a repair operation:

• App won’t launch, or hangs shortly after launch (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
• App reports an error after attempting an update, or update won’t work
• App runs sluggishly or on-screen updates don’t match keyboard inputs
• Styles or formatting doesn’t work properly or can’t be changed
• File save (or “Save as…”) doesn’t work
• Excel doesn’t provide access to or recognize some/all formulas

Indeed, there are lots of ways Office components can — and sometimes do — go wrong. When such things happen, that’s when repairs can help.

How to repair Microsoft Office

In this story, I’ll take you through a series of progressively aggressive (and more time-consuming) repairs for Windows-based Office apps. At each step in the path, I assume the preceding items in the sequence haven’t worked.

Spoiler alert! The absolute worst case requires running a cleanup tool on the current Office installation, followed by a clean install of a new copy of Office. That has never failed in my experience, any time I’ve had to go that far.

That said, let’s start with Step 1. In many cases, this will be the only step in the sequence. Why? Because it fixes many of the ails and gotchas that can occasionally bedevil Microsoft Office.

Step 1: Close all apps and reboot your PC

This technique usually fixes one of the most common causes for Office issues: updating Office while apps or applications in the suite are open. The installer/updater can get hornswoggled when this happens, and Office instability can result.

If you decide to update Office, the best thing to do is to exit all Office apps or applications first, apply the updates, then reboot the PC when the updates are finished. Then you can be relatively sure that everything will work as it should when you next open Office apps for continuing use. For an illustrative “war story” on this topic, see my July 9, 2024 blog post Word Gets Seriously Weird.

Step 2: Run the Office Quick Repair tool

All Office installations include a built-in repair tool. That’s a good place to go if a simple reboot doesn’t fix what ails Office.

Subscription-based versions of Office may be accessed through Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Find your Microsoft 365 or Office 365 installation in the list. If you click on the ellipsis at its right, as shown in Figure 1, you’ll see two options: Modify and Uninstall.

Figure 1: In the Installed apps list, click the ellipsis to the right of a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 item and select Modify.

Ed Tittel / IDG

Select Modify, and the Microsoft Office repair dialog will open, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The Office repair dialog offers two options: Quick Repair and Online Repair.

Ed Tittel / IDG

For perpetual-license versions of Office (e.g., Office 2021, 2019, or something older) you’ll need to start in Control Panel > Programs and Features and right-click on any Office component. Then select Modify from the pop-up menu, at which point the same Microsoft Office repair dialog shown in Figure 2 will open.

As you can see, there are two radio buttons in the Office repair tool: Quick Repair and Online Repair. You’ll want to try them in that order. (Online Repair is the subject of the next step in this sequence.)

For the record, Quick Repair uses local files from your PC to attempt its fixes (no download required). As its name suggests, Online Repair downloads known, good, working files from Microsoft servers to do likewise. Online Repair takes longer but uses a guaranteed source that may overcome local file issues that could otherwise stymie repairs.

However you get to the Microsoft Office repair dialog box, you should attempt its Quick Repair first. Select the Quick Repair radio button and then click the Repair button at the bottom right. The tool will ask you to confirm that you’re ready to start, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: You must click Repair one more time to actually start that process.

Ed Tittel / IDG

When permission is explicitly granted, the repair tool grinds through its paces to attempt repairs using local files. While this process is underway, the progress bar shown in Figure 4 will cycle back and forth.

Figure 4: As repairs are underway, you’ll see the blue segment cycle back and forth inside the progress bar at the bottom of the window.

Ed Tittel / IDG

When the Quick Repair tool is finished, a completion notice (or an error message) will appear on your PC. Figure 5 shows a successful completion.

Figure 5: If the repair completes without errors, you’ll see a simple “Done repairing!’ at its conclusion.

Ed Tittel / IDG

Although the status information in Figure 5 says “You can now close this window and use your programs,” you may instead decide to reboot your PC before returning to work inside Office.

If you received an error message or the Quick Repair doesn’t result in a working Office installation, you can re-run the Microsoft Office repair tool using the Online Repair option instead. In that case, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Use the Office Online Repair Tool

I won’t go through every step of the Online Repair tool’s progression. Why? Because it’s essentially the same as the Quick Repair sequence shown in Figures 2 through 5.

On my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme laptop (8th Gen/Coffee Lake CPU, 32 GB RAM, Samsung OEM PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi LAN connection 802.11ax), Quick Repair took between 3 and 4 minutes. On that same machine, Online Repair took nearly 6 minutes. (It took 150 seconds just to get to the “Please stay online…” notification shown in Figure 6.)

Figure 6: The Online Repair tool shows progress during its download process.

Ed Tittel / IDG

When the Online Repair is complete, it shows an “all set” message and flashes a notification that you can return to work using Office apps as well. The former appears in Figure 7.

Figure 7: The Online Repair tool announces successful completion with “You’re all set.”

Ed Tittel / IDG

If running the Online Repair tool doesn’t result in a working Office environment, or if it emits an error message instead of the foregoing status, you’ll need to move onto Step 4. In my experience using the Quick and Online Repair tools, only 1 in 5 or so Office troubleshooting incidents have required another step.

Step 4: Try Microsoft SaRA

Microsoft SaRA is the shorthand name for the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant. Microsoft itself uses this program for troubleshooting. Indeed, if you call Microsoft Support or engage with them via online chat, they may ask you to run this web-based tool (or run it for you, as circumstances may dictate).

The basic web UI for SaRA for Office appears in Figure 8. As you can see, it also supports tabs for Outlook, Teams, and Advanced Diagnostics as well. If you’re still troubleshooting, you will know which one(s) to explore. There are five Outlook buttons, three Teams buttons, and five Advanced Diagnostics buttons (of which the ROI Full Scan is probably the most helpful) in addition to the seven general Office buttons visible in Figure 8.

Figure 8: The Office tab for SaRA offers options for Excel startup and general Office issues.

Ed Tittel / IDG

Please note: this tool helps only with issues related to Office installation, set-up, removal activation and sign-in, along with more focused checks for Excel, Teams, and Outlook issues on the other tabs. If none of these fit your situation, move along to Step 5.

Otherwise, work your way through the various Office buttons in the SaRA UI shown in Figure 8, and explore the other tabs (Outlook, Teams, and Advanced Diagnostics) as well. If some particular button’s text addresses your specific issue, SaRA can probably help. If not, you’ll need to advance to Step 5.

Step 5: Wax off, wax on (remove and replace Office)

If you have to go this far during actual Office repairs, my condolences. You’re probably feeling pretty frustrated by now. Be of good cheer! We’re going to download and run a tool that completely obliterates your current Office installation. Then you’ll download and install a fresh, new installation from the Microsoft Office download page.

First, a precautionary detour

Whenever you make major changes to a Windows PC — and what we’re about to do surely counts — it’s a good idea to back up your current installation and know how to restore it. That is, unless you already have a current image: I make a fresh one at 9:00 every morning using Macrium Reflect, and I always keep the Macrium Rescue Disk (a bootable flash drive that knows how to find and restore Macrium image files) handy.

Even so, if it were late in the day, I would make a fresh backup myself at this point. On my systems, this typically takes under 15 minutes, so it’s not a huge wait. (It just took 7 minutes on my test PC.) YMMV.

One more thing: if you’re running an older version of Office — namely Office 2016 or older — you’ll need to save a copy of your Office key in case you need it upon reinstallation. WinAero.com has a handy script you can use to retrieve such keys: make sure you get it, write it to a file, and put it on a USB drive before you go any further down the “wax off, wax on” path described here. Then you’ll be able to access it later on, should you need it.

Newer versions (and subscriptions) are registered with Microsoft activation servers online, so those keys can find themselves, as it were.

Download and run OffScrub

First, download Microsoft’s automated tool for Office clean-up from the Support page named Uninstall Office automatically. It’s named SetupProd_OffScrub.exe, so I’m in the habit of calling it “OffScrub.” Once you install and run that file, you’ll see it uses an older, .exe-based incarnation of the SaRA tool to do its specific thing — namely, to remove all traces of any existing Office installations on the PC where it’s run.

The first thing it does is to install a slimmed-down version of SaRA. It asks for permission to install before commencing, then asks again for agreement when the installer gets up and running, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Before you can run any SaRA tools, you must agree to its license terms.

Ed Tittel / IDG

Click I agree as shown above, after which Windows may request permission to install a supporting DLL. Agree to that if it appears. (It will not if the DLL is already present on the target PC.)

Finally, the SaRA interface for OffScrub appears, as shown in Figure 10. This particular PC is running a subscription version (type = “Click to Run”); perpetual versions will appear as Office 2019 or 2021 (or something older, if that’s what you’ve got). Click the checkbox to remove the corresponding Office installation, then click the Next button (lower right) to proceed, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10: Check the Office installation you wish to remove, then click Next to proceed.

Ed Tittel / IDG

When you click Next, OffScrub gets to work. First, it detects the chosen installation (this took under a minute on the X1 Extreme), uninstalls the chosen Office files (10 minutes or so), and cleans up everything related it can find in the registry and in the Windows file system (12+ minutes). Then, finally, your old install of Office is gone, gone, gone.

Once OffScrub has finished, you must then reinstall Office. If you’re running a subscription or current perpetual edition, you can visit the Microsoft support page “Download and install or reinstall Microsoft 365 or Office 2021…” and follow its instructions.

If you’re running an older version of Office, you’ll need to lay hands on the right installer. If you don’t have it, you can use the HeiDoc.net Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool to grab the version you need. I just checked: it still works for Office versions from 2010 through 2019.

The end of the Office repair road?

If Office still doesn’t work after the “wax off, wax on” maneuver, you’ve got bigger problems than you thought. That means it’s time to think about an in-place upgrade install for the Windows OS itself as your next move. I wrote a step-by-step story on that very topic for Computerworld in 2018: see “How to fix Windows 10 with an in-place upgrade install.”

Here’s hoping this step-by-step guide has helped you solve your Office problems as simply as possible. You don’t want to walk this whole road unless you must. (I know, from bitter experience.) Good luck!

This article was initially published in April 2021 and updated in August 2024.

I wish generative AI (genAI) tools were truly useful. They’re not. I keep tinkering with the programs — ChatGPT, Meta AI, Gemini, etc., etc. Mind you, they look useful if you don’t know any better. Their answers sound plausible. But if you look closer, even if you forgive them for their hallucinations — that is, lies — you’ll see all too often that the answers they give are wrong. 

If you’re operating at, say, a high-school-grade report level, genAI answers are fine. (Sorry, teachers.) But if you’re digging deep into a subject, which is where I live, it’s another story. 

I know more than the average large language model (LLM) about subjects such as Linux and open-source software. What genAI can tell you about those subjects might sound right, but the deeper you dive into the details, the poorer the information. 

Indeed, all too often, the end result is annoying and obnoxiously wrong. Worse still, it’s erratically wrong. If I could count on its answers being mediocre, but reasonably accurate, I could work around it. I can’t. 

This isn’t just my take. As BusinessWeek reported, many serious GPT-4 users are finding it increasingly “lazier” and “dumber.” Others agree. As one person put it on Reddit recently, “ChatGPT 3 and 4 today are much less effective and helpful than when I signed up for pro 1 year ago.” That sounds about right. 

In my book, even the best genAI chatbot, Perplexity, seems to be going downhill. One of the things I liked about Perplexity was that it would give me sources for its observations. I found it useful when I could think of it as a turbo-powered search engine. In the last few days, though, it’s been getting flaky, and I can no longer count on it pointing out where it found the information it repackaged for me. 

Why is this happening? I’m not an AI developer, but I pay close attention to the field and see at least two major reasons they’re beginning to fail. 

The first is the quality of the content used to create the major LLMs has never been that good. Many include material from such “quality” websites as Twitter, Reddit, and 4Chan. 

As Google’s AI Overview showed earlier this year, the results can be dreadful. As MIT Technology Review noted, it came up with such poor quality answers as “users [shoud] add glue to pizza or eat at least one small rock a day, and that former US president Andrew Johnson earned university degrees between 1947 and 2012, despite dying in 1875.”

Unless you glue rocks into your pizza, those are silly, harmless examples, but if you need the right answer, it’s another matter entirely. Take, for example, the lawyer whose legal paperwork included information from AI-made-up cases. The judges were not amused. 

If you want to sex chat with genAI tools, which appears to be one of the most popular uses for ChatGPT, accuracy probably doesn’t matter that much to you. Getting the right answers, though, is what matters to me and should matter to anyone who wants to use AI for business. 

As the genAI giants continue searching for more data, this problem will only worsen. An Epoch AI study found that we’ll run out of high-quality data by as early as 2026.

That leads to the second problem. Today, more than ever, genAI-produced content is replacing expert human content. The result isn’t just that the bad data pushes out the good; it’s more insidious than that. 

A recent Nature paper found that “indiscriminately learning from data produced by other models causes ”model collapse” — a degenerative process where, over time, models forget the true underlying data distribution, even in the absence of a shift in the distribution over time.” I just like to call this Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO). 

Since I see no chance that companies will stop using genAI to produce documents for a fraction of the cost of real subject matter experts and experienced writers, quality will only continue downhill. 

We might, believe it or not, already be at peak AI as far as quality goes. Isn’t that a scary thought?

Now, I am not an AI luddite. Special-purpose genAI chatbots based on LLMs dedicated to a particular topic, such as troubleshooting a program or spotting a potential cancer, are already very useful. Other uses, such as AI-driven non-player characters in online games, will improve gameplay, and  AI friends for lonely people, such as ElliQ, could  help many folks. 

But as a way to replace knowledge workers, which all too many companies seem intent upon, forget about it. Except for CEOs — they could be replaced by AI chatbots. I doubt many people would notice much of a difference — except it would save companies a ton of money. 

As the EU does its deluded best to turn iOS into Android, the Apple ecosystem is focused on what really matters to business users: security, privacy, and platform integrity. That’s why enterprise tech leaders need to know that Apple MDM and security vendor Jamf has got even closer to leading ID tech purveyor Okta.

Jamf and Okta have worked together for years and in 2023 became the first to support Apple’s Single Sign-On (SSO) framework on Macs, following a similar introduction on iPhones and iPads shortly before. 

Identity, management, and security

What’s new is that Jamf has joined Okta’s Elevate partners program, meaning the two firms will be able to work even more closely together on offering combined services to enterprise customers, while also building new service offerings.

Henry Patel, Chief Strategy Officer at Jamf, explained: “With Okta as the identity provider and Jamf as the management and security solution, joint customers can offer their end users uninterrupted and productive workflows, anywhere and anytime.”

The point of this combination won’t be lost on IT. 

Jamf can deliver the MDM features Apple fleets need, while also protecting against security threats, spanning all the way from the endpoint to the enterprise core. The addition of core support for Okta’s rapidly evolving collection of tools to protect and manage identity gives customers business-class management and protection of their device fleets.

What the joint solution provides

As the companies put it, their joint solution lets customers handle all the following tasks:

• Enhance security with multifactor authentication (MFA) and passwordless single sign-on (PSSO).
• Enable seamless device enrollment with Enrollment SSO.
• Improve productivity with uninterrupted workflows, requiring fewer sign-ins with PSSO. No one likes to enter logins more often than they need to; it damages the user experience and rattles concentration.
• Ensure continuous conditional access, adjusting user access permissions based on changes in security status. 
• Provide easy access to company resources and apps.

Conditional access is particularly important in modern working environments. 

Managing complex remote work environments

While there remain some well publicized holdouts against the distributed future of hybrid working, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend showed the inevitability of workplace changes over time. 

While many in management resist what’s inevitable, working patterns are changing all the same. That means more and more people will be working from where they are on the device they choose at the time they find most productive.

The problem with that scenario is that enterprises must figure out how to protect their data outside of traditional perimeter security models, and that’s what conditional access tries to do. It’s a system that relies on signals such as location, time, device, or user to generate an insight into the extent to which a device can be trusted when it is used to try to gain access to company data.

There’s a mountain of work that has taken place around conditional access across the last few years, and this task accelerated during the pandemic. Apple’s Declarative Device Management tech, Jamf support for Microsoft Intune, and inclusion of Jamf at the Azure Marketplace are all testament to the degree to which tech is building rock-solid identity and access solutions, while SSO and passkeys show the user focus inherent to all these attempts. 

Enterprise-class simplicity

Ideally, I suppose, device and endpoint security would be something that happened without any user involvement. (People tend to be the weakest link in security, after all.) And it is good to see that kind of future being realized across Macs, iPhones, and iPads.

Now, having said that even SSO shows there will always be some need for user interaction but reading between the lines of the Jamf/Okta announcement, it’s hard not to detect the intention: to deliver enterprise-grade security that’s simple and easy to use just like any of Apple’s own consumer technologies, protection that enables workers to focus on what they do, while giving IT the degree of control, security and identity provision they require. All of this delivered without an ounce of kernel access — like an enterprise-class platform done right, some might say.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.

Raketa německé společnosti Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) tento týden explodovala během testu na Shetlandských ostrovech. Podle dostupných informací naštěstí nebyl nikdo zraněn. „Uděláme si čas na analýzu a posouzení situace,“ řekli představitelé RFA deníku The New York Times a dodali, že výbuch a ...

Ah, the ever-present annual conundrum for any Pixel-appreciating Android aficionado: To upgrade or not to upgrade?

Google’s latest Pixel 9 devices are here earlier than ever this year, and while they may not feel like night-and-day departures from the previous Pixel models, they pack plenty of interesting improvements.

It’s certainly enough to be tempting — and, potentially, to be a truly significant step up from your current Google-made Pixel gadget. But is it actually worth your while to get a Pixel 9, or are you better off hanging onto your current Pixel phone for a while longer?

Having lived with the Google Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL for a full week now, thanks to review units provided on loan from Google — and coming from the perspective of someone who personally owns a Pixel 8 Pro, has owned plenty of Pixels before that, and has spent a significant amount of time with every single Pixel model to date — lemme tell ya: There isn’t a simple, one-size-fits-all answer.

But there is some practical guidance I can give you based on my experiences with these latest Googley gizmos and my intimate knowledge of their assorted Pixel predecessors. And the most important variable to consider is which specific Pixel you’re packin’ in your suspiciously sticky palm.

So think it through with me, won’t ya? And whether you end up snagging the latest and greatest Pixel or stickin’ with your current model, be sure to mosey your way over to my free Pixel Academy e-course next. It’ll teach you all sorts of useful new stuff your phone can do for you, no matter which specific Pixel you end up possessing.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 8 (or Pixel 8 Pro)

We’ll start with the most recent generation of Pixel devices — the same generation I’ve personally got in my oversized person-pocket this very minute.

The Pixel 9 Pro (left) with the Pixel 8 Pro (right) — different styles but similar sizes.

JR Raphael, IDG

(With this and all the subsequent comparisons, by the way, the same general advice applies regardless of whether you’re thinking about the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro, or the Pixel 9 Pro XL. This year, all of those devices are fairly similar and comparable in terms of their core qualities and capabilities — with the main differences being that the Pro-level Pixel 9 models have better displays, the added presence of a telephoto camera for extra-exceptional zooming (along with the new Zoom Enhance feature for extra-powerful post-capture cropping and zooming), and a better front-facing camera for shameless selfies. And, of course, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is bigger.)

This one’s a somewhat two-pronged answer: Whether you’ve got the Pixel 8 Pro or its smaller Pixel 8 sibling, your not-even-quite-one-year-old Pixel is still perfectly peachy — and still set to get Android updates for another solid six years yet. You’ve got no particularly pressing reason to make the leap to the Pixel 9, and you’d certainly be fine to stick with your current phone for another year or two at a bare minimum, maybe even longer.

That being said, as someone with a Pixel-8-generation phone, there’s a decent chance you’re a tech enthusiast and the type of person who simply likes having the best available product. So if you’re looking for a reason to upgrade, I’ll give you a handful (with advance apologies to your wallet):

• Hardware design: It’s not a make-or-break update or anything that’ll have a massive impact on your day-to-day life, but the Pixel 9 devices really do have a sleek new look ‘n’ feel to ’em that’s quite enticing. It makes the previous-gen models feel a bit dated in comparison, once you get used to it. Google also says the new body makes the Pixel 9 twice as durable as its predecessors — a claim that’s tough to validate in any scientific way, but take it for what it’s worth.
• Size without compromise: If you’re someone who prefers a smaller device but also wants the best of the best, the Pixel 9 marks the first time in a long time that you’ve got the ability to go compact without making any other sacrifices — via the smaller but otherwise equal Pixel 9 Pro (non-XL version).
• Satellite backup: The Pixel 9 series includes two years of free access to Google’s new emergency satellite system, which lets you contact emergency services and share your location even if you’re in an area without regular cellular service. You probably (and hopefully!) won’t take advantage of that often, if ever, but it’s certainly a nice bit of added assurance to have.
• Pixel Screenshots: The new and presently Pixel-9-exclusive app encourages you to capture screenshots whenever you see something you want to remember and then makes it easy to search through, ask questions about, and generally revisit that info later. It’s one of the few genuinely clever and practical applications of generative AI right now, and it really is a useful addition. (It’s possible that the app could come to older Pixel devices eventually, though Google has yet to confirm any specific plans around that.)
• Call Notes: The other genuinely useful AI-powered addition on the Pixel 9 series is Google’s smart system for recording voice calls and serving up text transcripts and summaries right after. While you can emulate Call Notes on any Android device, it’s inevitably gonna be far less of a smooth, simple, and seamless setup. (Again, it’s possible this feature may make its way to older Pixel models at some point, but we don’t know for sure if or when that might happen yet.)

The Pixel 9 Call Notes feature (left) and Pixel Screenshots system (right) are productivity-aiding highlights of Google’s new Pixel devices.

JR Raphael, IDG

One big reason not to factor into your Pixel upgrading decision, if you ask me, is the thing that Google is emphasizing most prominently about the new Pixel 9 models — and that’s AI, in a more general sense, and the prominent new role played by the company’s next-gen Gemini virtual assistant on these devices.

Using the Pixel 9 at home, at work, and out and about in the real world, Gemini continues to be more befuddling than beneficial. It’s incapable of performing the types of tasks most of us actually want and need from a smartphone assistant — a.k.a. the stuff Google Assistant used to handle so easily — and the new generative-AI-powered features it adds into the equation just aren’t all that compelling, reliable, or relevant for the Android assistant environment.

The highly touted Gemini Live conversational chatbot experience might be the most effective illustration of all. This overview of the Gemini Live experience pretty much sums it up: It’s awkward, factually challenged, and very much a solution in search of a problem. You might enjoy playing around with it for a few minutes, but odds are, you won’t be pulling it up and conversing with it often — not for any productivity-related purposes, at least. (And remember, too: The Gemini Live feature is available only with a paid Gemini Advanced subscription, which you get for a year with any Pixel 9 Pro purchase but otherwise costs 20 bucks a month to continue using.)

And hey, who knows? Maybe this’ll evolve and improve over time. But you shouldn’t buy a piece of technology based on its theoretical future potential. You should buy it based on what it can do today. And today, there’s no sugarcoating it: The Gemini AI experience just isn’t great.

(The good news is that while the Pixel 9 does still signify the beginning of the end of Google Assistant as an Android phone and tablet entity, you can still opt to switch back to Google Assistant on all the Pixel 9 models as of now, if you’re ever so inclined.)

To be clear: These really are phenomenal phones — absolutely the best Pixels I’ve ever used and arguably among the best all-around smartphones created to date. But they’re those things in spite of all the overhyped AI hullabaloo, not because of it.

That aside, the Pixel 9’s camera setup is a nice little bump up from what the Pixel 8 series offered, and the new Add Me feature for group photos is a nifty trick and something you might appreciate once in a while. The Pro models also have a much better selfie camera than what was present in last year’s phones. If you take a lot of selfies and care about their quality, this might be significant for you. By and large, though, unless you’re the sort of person who stares intently at side-by-side images to search for subtle differences, I doubt you’ll notice much of a meaningful change in the types of non-selfie photos you get from these phones compared to the Pixel 8 models.

Now, don’t get me wrong: The Pixel 9’s camera capabilities are incredibly impressive! But so is the camera setup on the Pixel 8. For most common purposes and in terms of real-world impact, the difference is relatively subtle from one generation to the next. It’s a welcome bump forward, in other words, but we were already starting at such a high level that the realistic gains here aren’t exactly gonna be life-changing for most of us.

The same goes for other internal upgrades — like a 35% brighter display and 20% longer battery life, according to Google’s estimations. I don’t doubt that these claims are accurate, and they represent nice little boosts that any Pixel owner would eagerly accept. I just think you’d be hard-pressed to really be aware of ’em in everyday use, and I wouldn’t treat ’em as significant factors in any upgrade decision.

➜ The verdict, in short: If you’re itchin’ for something new and you’re the type of person who geeks out over the finer points of mobile technology (hiya!), you’ll be thrilled with the Pixel 9 upgrade coming from a Pixel-8-series phone. But at the same time, it’s certainly not a critical or particularly monumental upgrade, practically speaking, and there’s nothing in the new phone that you need or that’ll make a massive difference in your day-to-day life. The purely sensible advice would be to hang onto your current phone for a while longer — though particularly with the current trade-in values for Pixel-8-series phones, you can give yourself plenty of excuses for making the leap now, if you want. And as a fellow Pixel 8 series owner myself, I don’t think you’d regret it one bit if you do.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 8a

Got Google’s most recent midrange Pixel model? Moving to the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would absolutely be an improvement for you, but that’s in large part because you’re moving from a more budget-minded proposition into premium flagship terrain.

The regular Pixel 9 (left) may be comparable in size to the Pixel 8a (right), but beyond the surface, it’s a whole different story.

JR Raphael, IDG

That means you’ll get a fancier-feeling and more premium phone body (for whatever that’s worth to you), along with a higher-quality screen and plenty of extra bells and whistles — including a slew of new camera-related goodies.

The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro are also in a completely different league when it comes to processing power, which can make the phone feel a fair bit snappier. That being said, the Pixel 8a is certainly no slouch with performance for most average-mammal needs, and you may or may not notice any obvious difference in your day-to-day use (especially if you aren’t doing a ton of multitasking and other high-resource-requiring work).

The biggest question to ask yourself is why you went with the Pixel 8a in the first place. If it’s because of the price and value, then moving up to the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro probably isn’t an advisable move. Your 8a still has a solid six and a half years (!) of active software support under its belt, and nothing about this upgrade would dramatically revolutionize your core user experience or what your phone’s capable of doing — outside of photography, at least, but even there, we’re talking more niceties and added abilities as opposed to core competency.

If past trends hold true, meanwhile, we’ll see the next midrange Pixel — the Pixel 9a — sometime next spring. So that’s also on the way as a possible upgrade within your current “a”-series path, should you want to move to something new but stay within the same pricing range.

➜ The verdict, in short: If you’re jonesing for a more premium Pixel experience, you’ll be delighted by the move to a Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro — but that’s mostly because you’re hopping from one product tier to another. For most people who bought the 8a in the first place, sticking with that phone for another year or two, at a minimum, will make more sense.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 7 (or Pixel 7 Pro)

Still rockin’ one of 2022’s Pixel 7 series devices? You fall into a fun gray area of whether an upgrade to a Pixel 9 model would be worth your while.

The Pixel 9 Pro (left) is about the same size as the Pixel 7 Pro (right), though with a much rounder, sleeker-seeming body.

JR Raphael, IDG

As the last Pixel before Google moved from a three-year to its current seven-year software update promise, your device is only slated to receive Android operating systems updates through next fall — October of 2025. That means you could easily wait another year (or arguably even two) to make the leap to a new phone, and I don’t think you’d be missing out on anything incredibly important if you did.

That being said, you’d absolutely appreciate the same series of Pixel-9-introduced improvements we mentioned a moment ago, when talking about Pixel 8 owners. In addition to that, you’d gain the ability to use your phone’s Face Unlock system everywhere — as a secure way to sign into banking apps or anywhere else authentication is required — which is something that isn’t possible in the Pixel 7 series.

That improvement alone was what convinced me to pull the trigger on a Pixel 8 last year, when that capability first came into the equation. Small of a detail as it may seem compared to the more attention-grabbing Pixel tricks, it’s a real game-changer and something that has a meaningful, ongoing impact on your day-to-day life — likely multiple times every single day.

You’ll also gain the unusual advantage of an on-device thermometer, which seemed silly when it first debuted with the Pixel 8 series last year but has since grown into a valuable addition — now that it supports actual human temperature-taking. We can never find regular thermometers in my house, and even when we do, they’re frustratingly inconsistent and inaccurate in their readings. The Pixel 9’s thermometer (on the Pro models only) is always there and ready, and it’s been incredibly consistent with its measurements in my experience. (As luck would have it, an under-the-weather kiddo has given me plenty of opportunities to test it out.)

Still, this one mostly comes down to a matter of added niceties and conveniences — of want over need. If you want it, it’s well worthwhile, and you’ll certainly see enough of a difference to justify the change. But you definitely don’t need it, and if you aren’t feeling the urge to get something new, there’s really no reason not to stick with what you’ve got for another year or so.

➜ The verdict, in short: The Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would be a nice upgrade for you but by no means a necessary one. Ask yourself how much you truly want one of the devices and how much you can stomach the cost — taking into account any trade-in variables — for what’d be an inessential, if also enjoyable and efficiency-enhancing, purchase.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 7a

The story with the Pixel 7a is honestly pretty similar to what we said a moment ago with the Pixel 8a — though with the added consideration that the 7a will only receive Android OS updates through May of 2026.

That means, in all likelihood, that it’ll get this year’s upcoming Android 15 update, get next year’s Android 16 update, and then reach the end of its road in terms of ongoing OS support. That’s a decent amount of life left, if you aren’t in any rush to jump into something new. And even when you do replace your current phone, you may prefer to stay on the midrange path and go with the more affordable Pixel 8a (or a future Pixel “a” model) instead.

The Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would be a significant upgrade from the 7a in every possible measure, and you’d absolutely notice the difference. But your current phone is still fine. And just like with the Pixel 8a, the real question here is how badly you want to move to a more premium, high-end phone experience and how much you’re willing to spend to get it.

➜ The verdict, in short: For most 7a owners, there’s no pressing reason to upgrade — though going from that phone to the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would be a substantial and immediately noticeable improvement, if you simply wanted to give yourself the added advantages of the more premium Pixel path without any more waiting.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 6 (or Pixel 6 Pro)

Pixel 6 pals, you’re next! And if you’ve been reading everything up through this point, you’ve probably got a pretty good guess of where we’re going with this.

With each subsequent generation of Pixel, the argument for making the upgrade gets more compelling — and that’s absolutely true in the case of the Pixel 6.

The Pixel 6 is set to receive current OS updates only through this coming October, which means you’ll receive Android 15 soon but then likely not see any additional OS updates after. That puts a firm, but not quite imminent, shelf life on your device, and you’d be well-advised to consider a new phone by sometime next year — ahead of Android 16’s release — at the very latest.

As for right now, upgrading to a Pixel 9 model would give you some noticeable, meaningful improvements — including the presence of Face Unlock for authentication (a huge quality-of-life upgrade, if you ask me!) along with a much snappier and more consistent fingerprint sensor as a backup option and some fairly significant camera upgrades. And, of course, you’d gain access to all the other productivity-boosting Pixel-9-specific elements we mentioned in the first section of this story.

➜ The verdict, in short: You could hold off one more year, if you’d rather, but upgrading to the Pixel 9 now would be a substantial upgrade for you — and the time is nigh for when such a move will become highly advisable. If you’re ready now, you’ll be delighted with the change the Pixel 9 brings you. If not, you could put the purchase off one more year and go with the Pixel 10 in 2025 instead.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 6a

Once again, the Pixel 6a situation is pretty similar to what we’ve described with other Pixel “a” models — though here, we’re looking at a two-year-old device down to its final year of active OS update support.

Practically speaking, the 6a’s OS update support end-date of July 2025 means that it’ll likely receive this year’s upcoming Android 15 update and then reach the end of the road for any additional OS updates beyond that. Even with security updates still in the picture, it wouldn’t be fully optimal and advisable to continue using past that point.

Still, after Android 15, we likely won’t see another major Android OS update until sometime next fall — and by then, there’ll be a whole new crop of Pixel products to choose from. So you could easily hold off a little while longer and then think about getting either a new midrange model or one of next year’s Pixel 10 phones as a replacement.

Once more, the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would be a significant upgrade in every possible measure, and you’d absolutely notice and appreciate the difference. But, again, your current phone is still reasonably okay — if a little long in the tooth.

➜ The verdict, in short: The argument for upgrading from a Pixel 6a is a strong one, given how much things have moved forward in the time since that phone’s release — but still, this is far from a must-upgrade scenario. And, just like with the Pixel 8a, the real question is if you even want to move to the higher-end Pixel path whenever you do upgrade or if you’d rather stick with the less expensive midrange “a” phones. That’s a decision only you can make.

Google Pixel 9 vs. Pixel 5 or any earlier Pixel model

This last Pixel 9 upgrade decision is the easiest: If you’re using the Pixel 5 or any Pixel model earlier than that, you should strongly consider stepping up to the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro now.

These older Pixels are no longer actively being supported with current OS updates or even security patches, and all current features and added conveniences aside, that means they’re no longer advisable to use when it comes to the ever-important areas of optimal privacy, security, and performance for your phone.

➜ The verdict, in short: It’s time for a new device, plain and simple, and the Pixel 9 models will be a tremendous, night-and-day leap forward for you in every possible measure. If you’re on an older Pixel “a” model, you could consider going with the Pixel 8a instead, should you wish to spend a little less dough. But with any older Pixel, the Pixel 9 or Pixel 9 Pro would be the best upgrade you could make right now, and you would be positively thrilled with the change (in addition to being maximally protected, in terms of being on the most current software possible and avoiding any privacy-, security-, or performance-related liabilities).

Wait — what about the Pixel Fold?

Using the first-gen Pixel Fold? The advice above doesn’t really apply to you.

Folding phones are their own beast, and it’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison to try to stack them up next to a standard slab-style device at this point.

If you simply aren’t happy with your Fold experience and think you’d rather go back to a more standard sort of phone form, you’d be quite pleased with a move to a Pixel 9 model.

Otherwise, stay tuned for more on the second-gen Pixel Fold — a.k.a. the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — soon. It isn’t slated to ship until sometime in September, and Google consequently hasn’t made review units of it available for assessment quite yet.

Don’t let yourself miss an ounce of Pixel magic. Come start my free Pixel Academy e-course to discover tons of fresh hidden features and time-saving tricks for whatever Pixel phone you’re using.

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