Why information technology matters: Imagine calling 911 on your Android phone and existence unable to get through to the emergency services, all because Microsoft Teams is installed. Google has confirmed that such a scenario can happen nether certain conditions.

The concerning bug was discovered by a Pixel 3 user running Android 11 who goes past /u/KitchenPictures5849 on Reddit. They wrote that their phone "got stuck" immediately after simply one ring when they rang 911 for their grandmother who appeared to be having a stoke. It left them unable to do anything other than click through apps with an emergency telephone call running in the groundwork.

"This is all while the phone informed me that information technology had sent my location to emergency services," they wrote. "Sadly I couldn't tell the person on the other end what apartment I was in, or what the actual emergency was every bit I was unable to speak to a human."

Such a serious problem gained the attention of Google, who conducted an investigation into why the phone failed. It turns out that the fault lies with the Microsoft Teams app beingness installed on the device. All the same, the of import caveat is that the issue is only present when a user isn't logged into Teams. Those who are signed in won't be afflicted.

"We believe the issue is only present on a pocket-sized number of devices with the Microsoft Teams app installed when the user is not logged in, and we are currently merely aware of one user written report related to the occurrence of this issues. We adamant that the event was beingness caused by unintended interaction between the Microsoft Teams app and the underlying Android operating system," a Google spokesperson wrote in the Reddit thread.

Google and Microsoft have heavily prioritized pushing out a Teams update that volition fix the problem. Google also added that in that location will be a "platform update to the Android ecosystem on January 4." In the meantime, people using Android ten (or newer) on any device with Teams installed without being signed in are brash to uninstall then reinstall the app. This acts as an interim set up until the patches arrive.

Information technology's important to note that this is a problem with Teams and affects any device running Android ten or to a higher place, not just the Pixel phones. The latest handset from Google, the Pixel vi series, did have bug with slow in-screen fingerprint scanners, but the visitor pushed out an update concluding month that addressed the event.