Google's latest Pixel Buds were pretty polarizing when they landed last year, months after their announcement. Like them or hate them, one feature has been almost universally resented: The fact that updates are an automatic process with no user control. They just kind of happen while the buds are connected, and you can't do much to speed up the process. But according to a recent teardown, manual updates may soon be possible.

A teardown of the latest version of the Pixel Buds app, performed by 9to5Google earlier today, revealed a handful of new strings buried inside the app, which point to a manual update feature under development. It's early, and the particulars are always subject to change when it comes to teardowns, but the new feature could be as simple as a button you tap to trigger the update process for a pair of connected Pixel Buds.

Based on the details divined so far, the option will appear in the Settings app on Pixels, while other devices will get it in the Pixel Buds app itself. Error support via a notification is also present, indicating if the process runs into trouble.

So far, the feature isn't live yet. It isn't clear if that's because it hasn't rolled out, or if it's simply because the Pixel Buds haven't had an update since September. It looks like that whole "feature drop" thing for the buds didn't quite pan out — or Google hasn't stuck to the same sort of schedule it does for its quarterly Pixel feature drops.

Source: 9to5Google