Google admits that a bug is bricking some Pixel phones – here’s what to do

The update to Android 14 hasn’t gone particularly smoothly for some users, especially those who have multiple profiles set up on their Pixel phones – and Google has now officially acknowledged the problem, promising a fix is on the way.

We reported on the issue a couple of weeks ago, when it seemed to be primarily affecting Pixel 6 owners. Users who had more than one user profile configured on their phone would find the Android 14 update crashed their devices, left them unable to access local storage, or caused various other problems.

Since then, people using other Pixel devices – including the Google Pixel 7 and the Google Pixel Fold – have come forward to say they’re experiencing problems too (via Ars Technica). Some users are reporting that they can’t actually get into their phones at all, and are stuck at the starting screen or in a boot loop.

Now a community manager has taken to the official Pixel Phone Help forums to say that Google is “aware of an issue” caused by multiple profiles, including guests and child users (though not multiple Google accounts on the same phone). What’s more, engineers are “continuing to work on fixes” to clear all of this up.

What to do next

As per the forum post, Google has already issued a Google Play system update that should “help prevent this issue from being triggered on additional devices”. If you can get into your Pixel device, open Settings and head to Security & privacy, System and updates, and then Google Play system update to see if you’ve got it.

At the same time, the official advice for those who haven’t yet been affected by this bug is to avoid setting up secondary users until a full Android 14 update has been issued. That suggests to us that the Google Play system update isn’t exactly a guarantee that multiple users won’t cause problems on Android 14.

If you’re already experiencing issues, and the Google Play system update doesn’t remedy them, there’s not much you can do except sit tight. Google says an upcoming system update should be enough to restore access to the local storage without any data loss, and that it’s working on data recovery options for those who are seeing boot loops.

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, and we appreciate your patience,” continues the forum post, which also says more information will be forthcoming “as soon as it is available”. It’s not a lot of consolation for those who can’t get at their files or into their phones, but at least the problem is now being worked on.

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