[zevon]

You could install another operating system on the phone. For example, as far as I know GrapheneOS (https://grapheneos.org) still has limited support for the Pixel 4a and apparantly does not include the new changes google introduced at this time (there are already a few threads about this in the GrapheneOS forums).

There is probably a Hackerspace or a Makerspace somewhere around and it's very likely that you will find people there who will help you with working on making your device usable again and with backing up your data.

[computehyper]

My files on my Pixel 4a are very important, and the battery barely lasts so even upgrading wouldn't work, it will surely mess up, and I am scared to lose or screw anything up with the phone. I also heard that doing anything weird like this can brick your phone. I also have bank apps that do not work on anything else apparently.

I wish Google would have told the truth so I had time to prepare. Luckily the news sites now are talking about how the update made the phone bust and Google has no batteries right now.

If someone can post this on the pixel4a and GooglePixel subreddit on Reddit I would be grateful as reddit is thinking I am a bot. I would hope Google fixes this issue for everyone, as I know there are many people like me in the same predicament.

[dauertewigkeit]

Do you access to a computer? Maybe at a public library? Or on a university campus? You can recover your files with ADB.