It is nearly arduous to consider that is taking place once more, however Pixel customers are reporting that an OS replace has locked them out of their telephones’ inside storage, inflicting app crashes, non-functional telephones, and an actual chance of information loss. Over within the Google Pixel subreddit, person “Liv-Lyf” compiled a dozen posts that complain of an “inside storage entry problem” and blame the January 2024 Google Play system replace.
In October, Pixel telephones confronted a nightmare storage bug that brought on bootlooping, inaccessible gadgets, and knowledge loss. The latest put up says, “The signs are all the identical” as that October bug, with “inside storage not getting mounted, digital camera crashes, Information app reveals no information, screenshots not getting saved, inside storage reveals up empty in ADB Shell, and many others.” When requested for a remark, Google instructed Ars, “We’re conscious of this problem and are trying into it,” and a Google rep posted successfully the identical assertion within the feedback.
Within the October bug, customers had been locked out of their system storage because of an odd permissions problem. Having a cellphone attempt to run with none person entry to your personal storage is a multitude. It breaks the digital camera and screenshots as a result of you possibly can’t write media. File Managers learn “0 bytes” for each file and folder. Nothing works over USB, and a few telephones, understandably, simply fail as well. The difficulty in October arrived as a part of the preliminary Android 14 launch and solely affected gadgets that had a number of customers arrange.
Choosing by way of the posts, it is unclear if there is a sure kind of person that must be extra cautious of the January 2024 Google Play replace. Some customers say they have not enabled the multiple-user performance, however a number of point out having a work profile enabled. Work Profiles aren’t fairly “a number of customers,” however the system leverages loads of multi-user options to let customers have duplicate “private” and “work” copies of the identical apps. Many customers do not say if they’ve a piece profile or not.
The “January 2024 Google Play system replace” is not the standard OTA system replace however is a Mission Mainline or APEX module. These take core system parts and wrap them up into simply distributable packaging the place they are often delivered by way of the Play Retailer, very like an app, however with far more permissions (solely Google could make Play system updates). Google posts launch notes for Play system updates, and there is nothing within the January 2024 replace that jumps out because the potential reason for a storage entry drawback. You’ll be able to test your present model on a Pixel cellphone by going to Settings, Safety & Privateness, then “System & updates.” On the backside, you will see a month and yr to your “Google Play system replace” degree. DO NOT faucet on this part as a result of that may deliver up the replace display screen.
Google’s “we’re trying into it” assertion does not give customers a lot steerage on how they need to take care of this within the meantime. An excellent first step, at any time, is to make sure you have backups of all of your essential cellphone knowledge. Clearly, avoiding the January 2024 Google Play system replace is beneficial for now, however I do not suppose there is a approach for customers to try this. Google Play system updates do not supply customers any controls, so that you’re largely hoping an automated replace does not brick your cellphone. The excellent news is that the Google Play system typically fails to test for updates. They get put in on reboot, so strive to not energy cycle your cellphone. Disabling a piece profile and every other multi-user options appears like a good suggestion should you can handle that. There are directions right here.
