Google is investigating Android 14’s multiple profile update bug

Google is looking into an Android 14 bug that’s been wreaking havoc on people with multiple user profiles. On October 27th, a Google representative acknowledged the bug and said the team is “working hard on a fix” for it.

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.

On October 29th, a Google community manager provided an additional update on the issue, which they say is affecting some Pixel 6 and later Pixel models. According to the notice, Google is “continuing to work on fixes” and expects that a forthcoming system update “will repair the issue and restore access to media files without requiring a factory reset.” It’s also investigating how to recover data on devices that are stuck in a boot loop.

Although Google has released a Google Play system update that it says should help prevent the issue from cropping up on more devices, the company is recommending that currently-unaffected Pixel owners avoid creating or logging into secondary user profiles on their devices until a complete fix has been released.

While the first reports were mostly from Pixel 6 owners who experienced the problem as the update started rolling out, Ars Technica reported this week that a Google issue tracker for the problem had grown beyond over 350 replies, extending to owners of many different devices. The problems range from missing apps to constant crashes to being locked out of internal storage entirely on one of their device’s user accounts.

As of now, the issue tracker has over 510 replies, with some users pasting in log files or uploading pictures of the phone’s screen. Multiple users said they can’t provide on-device screenshots because the phone reports it has no available storage to save them to. Several likened the experience to being infected with ransomware.

Update October 30th, 5:59AM ET: Updated with additional Google statement on work to fix the issue.