This story was updated on January 24th. Update below.
Last October, hundreds of Google Pixel users complained about a storage bug that meant they couldn’t access their files, or even open the camera app. Google eventually fixed the problem with an update, but a very similar bug has now resurfaced.
Users on the Google Pixel Reddit sub, and Google’s community forums, are complaining that they can’t access their local files, play any media or open the camera app. Pixel users say the issues started after the January Google Play system update, with the Pixel 7a, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro reportedly affected,
On Reddit, one user said this is similar to the bug that was identified in October. “The symptoms are all the same – internal storage not getting mounted, camera crashes, Files app shows no files, screenshots not getting saved, internal storage shows up empty in ADB Shell, etc.”
The original thread poster, on the Pixel community forums, said “I received the January 5th security update a while back and not had any problems, but today I received the January 1st Google Play System Update and it has wreaked havoc on my Pixel 7a.” In a follow up they said that they had fixed the issue by factory resetting their phone, but this is an extreme solution.
The original bug was related to people having multiple user profiles on their phones, as Google explained at the time. “We are aware of an issue occurring on some Pixel devices (Pixel 6 and later models) that have both received the Android 14 update and have multiple users (other than the primary user) set up. Multiple users include users, guests, restricted profiles, and child users. However, it does not include having more than one Google account within the primary user or work profiles.”
The difference with this new bug is that some affected users suspect that it is related to having a secondary work profile on their devices. It’s not clear what is causing the problem, or if it’s the same bug that was identified and fixed last year, but Google told 9To5Google that it is investigating the issue.
Google’s last update solved the problem and restored storage access for most users, which took a couple of days to roll out. But more seriously affected users who were caught in a constant boot loop may have had to use Google’s Pixel Repair Tool to “recover partial data for devices that are repeatedly rebooting,” as the company explained last November. This is a specialised solution for people who can’t boot Android on their phones because of the original fault, so it may be a potential solution for anyone experiencing similar because of the new bug.
Update January 24th: Google has now confirmed to affected users in the Google Pixel Reddit sub that it is investigating the issue. “Hi, we checked and confirmed our team is looking into this right now, and they’ll get back to you ASAP. Thanks for your patience!” The company said.
Google hasn’t responded to complaints on the Pixel community forums yet, but the original post mentioned in this story now has 28 upvotes, which suggests it isn’t as widespread a problem as the first time this bug surfaced last year. That could be down to the fact that the January Google Play System update is still rolling out. Complaints about the original storage problem that popped up last October had been circling for weeks prior to Google’s acknowledgement of the fault.
If the bug is again related to having multiple profiles on some Pxiel phones, then Google should have a similarly quick workaround. But the fact that it has potentially surfaced again is concerning considering that it’s a particularly debilitating bug that can result in people losing their data through having to factory reset their handsets.
