Smartphones have come a long way in the past decade, but each new launch still seems to bring with it new bugs and issues that users often find themselves dealing with. Whether those issues are poor performance — as some early adopters of the Pixel 10 have reported — or more explosive issues, like the battery problems that plagued earlier Samsung devices, bugs and problems are always annoying. However, not all of them end up actually being dangerous to the user, which is why one particular ongoing Pixel bug is such a notable exception to the rule.
The bug in question has reportedly plagued Pixel phones for years at this point, according to users on Reddit. And when you think about the actual issue — the fact that sometimes calls will fail when attempting to dial 911 on Pixel phones — it’s all the more concerning that Google’s smartphones are seemingly still struggling with the same problem 10 generations in.
Pixel’s 911 bug rears its ugly head
In a recent post on Reddit, one user describes their experience with the issue, noting that when they tried to call 911, their phone displayed a message telling them to turn on Wi-Fi or disable airplane mode to make the call. Then, after displaying those messages, the phone would just freeze up and reboot. The poster says it happened on their Pixel 9 Pro, though other users rocking the Pixel 10 lineup have also corroborated the report.
What is especially frustrating about the issue is that there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why or when it happens. Users with cell service on various carriers have reported having the problem, and when they reached out to their carriers to report it, the carriers weren’t able to provide any solutions, as the issue appears to somehow be on Google’s end.
That only adds to the frustration, as Google doesn’t appear to have done anything about this bug despite it causing problems across multiple generations of Pixel devices. So, while the Pixel 10 has garnered quite a lot of praise for its features, it also seems like it’s yet another victim to one of the most dangerous smartphone bugs we’ve seen in recent years.
