Pixel phones have regularly suffered from a strange bug that prevents them from successfully calling 911. Given the critical nature of the issue and its real-world consequences, you’d expect Google to tackle it once and for all. Yet, that has not been the case, with Pixel 10 users complaining about the problem as recently as September. And now, reports are once again pouring in from Pixel users unable to reach emergency services.
Over the past 24 hours, several Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 owners have taken to Reddit (2) complaining about their 911 calls failing to go through. The issue seems to affect major US networks, including AT&T.
One Pixel 8 user notes that it took him 10 minutes to reach out to emergency services because the phone wouldn’t make the call without Wi-Fi calling enabled. And that’s despite being in an area with excellent mobile network coverage.
There wasn’t even a network issue, as he was able to call 911 from someone else’s phone without any trouble.
Canadian operator Bell sent out an emergency message on Thursday afternoon informing customers that Pixel 6-10 owners might experience issues while contacting 911 (via iPhone in Canada).
While the problem has since been resolved, no major US carrier issued a similar notice. Given the real-world implications of being unable to reach emergency services in time, this is something they should have done if they were aware of the issue.
Even if this was a short-lived outage, the real issue is that it happens frequently — and only seems to affect Pixel phones. And that’s a problem.
Google needs to get its act together
Over the last few years, there have been several instances of Pixel users being unable to reach emergency services due to a bug. There have been reports from iPhone or Samsung users facing a similar problem, and that’s despite their significantly higher user base.
At this point, Google should take this matter on a high priority and work closely with carriers to fix the underlying problem for good. There’s no excuse for any smartphone to fail at making calls to emergency services.