GOOGLE confirmed on Wednesday that some of its smartphones are unable to call emergency services due to a software bug.
The search giant said that users of its popular Pixel devices are affected by the glitch under “limited circumstances”.
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The announcement followed a report last week from a user who claimed that their Pixel 3 was not able to dial 911.
In a post on Reddit, the netizen described how their phone repeatedly malfunctioned while they tried to reach an ambulance.
At the time, their grandmother appeared to be having a stroke. They eventually got hold of medics over a landline.
In a comment beneath the Reddit post, a Google spokesperson announced the findings of an investigation into the incident.
“Based on our investigation we have been able to reproduce the issue under a limited set of circumstances,” the verified account wrote.
“We believe the issue is only present on a small number of devices with the Microsoft Teams app installed when the user is not logged in.
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“We are currently only aware of one user report related to the occurrence of this bug.”
The issue is the result of an unintended interaction between the Teams app and the Android operating system.
The company recommended that Pixel users with the Microsoft Teams app on their phone either log in to the app or uninstall and reinstall it.
An update to Teams rolling out in the near future should fix the issue, the spokesperson said.
In their viral post on Reddit’s popular r/GooglePixel forum, user KitchenPicture5849 described the impact the bug had on their Pixel 3 device.
“I had to call an ambulance for the grandmother on Friday as she appeared to be having a stroke,” they wrote on November 29.
“I got off a phone call with my mom, and proceeded to dial 911 just by typing and calling on my pixel.
“My phone got stuck immediately after one ring and I was unable to do anything other than click through apps with an emergency phone call running in the background.”
They added: “This is all while the phone informed me that it had sent my location to emergency services.
“Sadly I couldn’t tell the person on the other end what apartment I was in, or what the actual emergency was as I was unable to speak to a human.”
Fortunately, their grandmother had a landline and so emergency services were called.
The post has racked up nearly 12,000 upvotes on Reddit and messages of sympathy from fellow users.
“I’ll let you know from experience that the last thing you want to go wrong during an actual emergency is your phone to mess up,” the Redditor wrote.
“Especially when time is of the essence, and the faster you get emergency services to your door, the more likely it is that you will survive.”
Google launched the Pixel 3 in 2018 with the promise of a gorgeous 6.3in OLED screen and superb camera. It retailed for $799.
It’s not the first time that Pixel smartphones have had issues with calling emergency services.
The Pixel 6, which hit shelves in October, reportedly called contacts and 911 at random without any interaction from the user. Google fixed the bug with an update.
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I’m a tech expert and I found hidden Google codes that unlock secret features
In other news, Samsung is reportedly killing off its beloved Note smartphone after more than a decade.
Apple has announced that it will let customers fix their own iPhones for the first time starting next year.
The UK is fighting an epidemic of hack attacks targeting consumers and businesses, according to officials.
And, NASA has slammed Russia after a missile it fired into one of its own satellites forced the space station to perform an emergency swerve.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
