Google Pixel bug prevented users from calling 911

The Vice Motherboard talks about a case with the Google Pixel 3 user, which could not call 911 due to a bug.

The man known online as KitchenPicture5849 revealed on Reddit that he was unable to call 911 when his grandmother had a stroke.

Fortunately, KitchenPicture5849’s grandmother’s apartment had a landline phone, so the user still managed to call an ambulance. But then he wondered what happened to his device.

KitchenPicture5849 later tried to reproduce the error again and found that it still could not call 911. The device still reported that it had contacted emergency services, but there was no evidence that the call was made. The call to 911 was absent in the call logs and in a separate log maintained by the communication provider (in this case, Verizon). The victim writes that he eventually contacted Google and planned to file a complaint with the FCC.

More than a week later, Google representatives responded to a user on Reddit and explained what had happened. It turned out that Microsoft Teams was to blame.

It is reported that currently Google and Microsoft are working on a solution to the resulting bug and assure that the removal of Microsoft Teams or ensuring a permanent login will work as a temporary solution.

Let me remind you that we also wrote that Attackers abusing Google Apps Script to steal bank card details.