Summary
- A bug in Android 14 is causing trouble for people who have more than one user profile on their devices.
- Google has acknowledged the bug and said it is working on a fix.
- Google has also released a Google Play system update that should prevent the bug from spreading to more devices.
- Google advises Pixel owners who are not affected by the bug to avoid using secondary user profiles until the fix is ready.
- The bug has affected many different devices and has caused various problems, such as missing apps, crashes, and loss of access to internal storage.
Details
Google is looking into a bug in Android 14 that is creating problems for people who use multiple user profiles on their devices. Confirmed by a Google representative on October 27th, the team is “working hard on a fix” for the bug.
Thanks for sticking with us. Our team is looking into this storage issue affecting some Pixel devices running Android 14 and we’re working hard on a fix. We’ll update this thread with more details soon.
On October 29th, a Google community manager gave another update on the issue, which they said is affecting some Pixel 6 and later Pixel models. The notice said that Google is “continuing to work on fixes” and expects that a future system update “will repair the issue and restore access to media files without requiring a factory reset.” It also said that Google is looking into how to recover data on devices that are stuck in a boot loop.
Google has also released a Google Play system update that it said should help stop the bug from affecting more devices. However, the company recommends that unaffected Pixel owners refrain from creating or logging into secondary user profiles on their devices until the fix is available.
The bug was first reported by mostly Pixel 6 owners who encountered the problem as the update began rolling out. However, Ars Technica recently noted that a Google issue tracker for this problem has received over 350 responses, affecting various device owners. Users have encountered issues ranging from disappearing apps and frequent crashes to complete lockout from internal storage on certain user accounts.
Currently, the issue tracker has surpassed 510 responses, with some users sharing log files or images of their phone screens. Several users reported being unable to take screenshots on their devices due to reported lack of storage space. Some even compared the experience to ransomware.
