Google, a California-based tech giant, has acknowledged that a bug in Android 14 around the “multiple profiles” exists, and it is working on a fix. Spotted by Ars Technica, according to some users, the bug leaves devices “unusable” and locks users out of the storage. Some Pixel owners go on to compare it with “ransomware.”
According to the report, Pixel devices (Pixel 6a, 6, 7a, 7, Pixel Fold and Tablet) updating to Android 14 are likely affected by the bug. The replies on Google’s issue tracker have clocked over 400, and Google has responded to the issue, as per The Verge.”Thanks for sticking with us. Our team is looking into this storage issue affecting some Pixel devices running Android 14 and we’re working hard on a fix. We’ll update this thread with more details soon,” a Google representative posted on the IssueTracker portal.
Users have screenshots of messages that read: “Failed to open directory /data/media/0: Structure needs cleaning,” and “Pixel is starting…” boot loop.
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Such messages continue to pop up in case a user does not have enough internal memory. The Camera app prompts an “out of storage” error and there is no way you can take a screengrab as there is no internal storage.
The File Explorer displays files and folders as having a size of 0 bytes. These cannot be accessed even from a computer. Moreover, the UI and Settings app keep crashing. The user profile system on Android allows multiple users on one device to bifurcate work and home profiles and ensure the data is kept separate via dual apps.
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The bug is limited to users of these features, with reports that the primary profile is locked out in most cases. According to some user reports, the phone even goes on to perform a factory reset and clear all data. As per Ars Technica, the flaw has been on the scene for over 10 days and continues to plague older devices (stated above) that use multiple user profiles. A bug fix from the search giant is expected to roll out soon.
