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2 months ago
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This year's annual update to Google's operating system, Android 15, is leaving some Pixel 6 users with a 'brick' instead of a smartphone.
Panicking Pixel owners have rushed into online forums reporting that their device is 'is basically a paper weight now' — with phones failing to respond to even standard troubleshooting methods to reboot after the update.
Early complaints from those seeking help on social media suggest 'bricking' risk may be higher with use of the update's new Private Space feature.
The feature allows users to wall-off sensitive apps (everything from banking services to photo rolls) into a discreet area off the main page which can then be locked with a pattern code, PIN, password or fingerprint identification.
'It's completely dead,' one Pixel 6 owner warned others on Reddit.
'I can't turn the phone on or reboot it using the methods provided by Google.'
The problems echo complaints made late last spring and early summer, when users who downloaded both the Beta 2 and Beta 3 versions of the update reported that these were also plagued by the phone-killing glitch.
Panicking users of Google's Pixel 6 phones (pictured) have rushed into online forums reporting that their device is 'is basically a paper weight now' - after updating to Android 15
'Just giving a PSA to anyone who has a Pixel 6. Don't enable the Private Space feature if you upgrade to Android 15,' a user, who goes by GegoByte, posted to Reddit.
'I unlocked the Private Space area, opened an app I installed in it, and it bricked my Pixel 6,' GegoByte warned, as others chimed in with related stories.
'Guess it made the whole phone private,' one Redditter quipped.
Although many public complaints have linked the issue to Private Space, and a similar bug that plagued a feature called 'Multiple Profile' on Android 14, others said that their devices simply shutdown after installing the update.
Under ordinary circumstances, connecting a Pixel phone to a laptop or PC and then holding the Power and Volume Down buttons will boot the device.
While Google itself has yet to comment on the issue, tech experts are recommending that Pixel users shut off automatic updates in their settings to avoid being caught unaware by early and buggy versions of Android's latest.
To turn off auto updates on Pixel 6, users must first 'enable developer options' by going into Settings, clicking 'About phone' and tapping on 'Build number' a few times until the setting lists the phone's owner as a developer.
Once the owner has given themselves developer privileges, they can go back to Settings, click on System, then 'Developer options' and switch off the 'Automatic system updates' toggle, by moving it to the left.
The wave of problems echo complaints made months ago, when Android users who downloaded both Android 15 Beta 2 and Beta 3 reported that early versions of the update were also plagued by the phone-killing glitch
The killer bug appears to bear similarities to an issue that hit users of a similar 'silo' or 'sandboxing' feature of Android 14, a storage bug that affected many who tried to make use of 'Multiple Profiles' on their device.
The rarely used feature was intended to allow customers to divide their phone or tablet into separated user experiences — an ideal scenario for those with a family tablet, or anyone who wanted to split their phone into 'home' and 'work' profiles.
The bug was so troublesome that some compared the ordeal to dealing with a 'ransomware' attack from cybercriminals.
Similar to the current issue, these reports mainly came from owners of the Pixel 6, but multiple models and devices were impacted after more widespread upgrades to Android 14, including the Pixel 7, 7a, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet.
Today, Google's issue tracker reports for the current device-bricking bug with Android 15 continue to mount, but there's no word yet on what the cause of the issue is, or when a patch will be released.
One report from September, under the heading 'System crashes when entering any Private Space function,' currently has no solution posted.
Another, titled 'pixel 6 bricked,' has degenerated into a debate of online etiquette.
'Your comments were flagged for review,' a Google representative wrote.
'We understand that you’re frustrated, but if you continue to post abusive statements to the Google Issue Tracker, we will be forced to take action by removing your ability to make any comments or changes on the Google Issue Tracker,' they added.
Independent experts have advised all Google Pixel 6 owners — or anyone with any kind of computational device at all — to routinely backup their data so as to avoid losing anything of value to future bugs from major and minor tech company errors.
