PSA: Some Android users are unable to call 911, Google working on a fix

Pocketnow

By Sanuj Bhatia

Published Dec 9, 2021

The bug apparently blocks some Android phones from calling emergency services if the user has Microsoft Teams installed but is not logged in.

Last week, a Google Pixel 3 user reported the issue that their phone was not able to dial emergency services. Google has now confirmed that there is a bug in Android that might prevent some Android users from dialing 911 under a “limited set of circumstances”. For those worrying about the bug, there is a fix available right now. Google has also confirmed that it is working to fix the bug.

When the issue was first reported, a user on Reddit who had a Pixel 3 running Android 11 on Verizon wrote:

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. This is all while the phone informed me that it had sent my location to emergency services.

After some investigation, Google has confirmed that such a bug exists on Android. Google has reported that the bug exists when a user has Microsoft Teams app installed on their Android smartphone, but the user is not logged in to the app.

We determined that the issue was being caused by unintended interaction between the Microsoft Teams app and the underlying Android operating system. Because this issue impacts emergency calling, both Google and Microsoft are heavily prioritizing the issue, and we expect a Microsoft Teams app update to be rolled out soon

Both the tech giants have confirmed that they're working on a fix. The immediate fix for users with Android devices with version 10 and newer who use the app in the logged-out manner is to uninstall the app and re-install it.

If you have the Microsoft Teams app downloaded, but are not signed in, uninstall and reinstall the app. While this will address the problem in the interim, a Microsoft Teams app update is still required to fully resolve the issue.

Google has revealed that those using Microsoft Teams and are signed in are not affected by the issue. However, both Microsoft and Google will issue updates soon to fix the issue.

Via: 9to5Google