Android 15 appears to contain a bug that may brick certain Google Pixel 6 models, meaning owners may want to hold off on updating to the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system.
As Android Police reports, the catastrophic bug has caused some Pixel 6 handsets to become completely unresponsive unexpectedly, with no clear fix in sight.
Several threads in the Reddit community r/GooglePixel have noted issues after updating to Android 15, with user u/GegoByte reporting that their phone had failed after enabling the Private Space feature.
Private Space is a new feature in Android 15 that allows users to keep a selection of apps and files in a locked profile. It’s not yet clear why this would cause the phone to brick, but the feature is apparently somewhat resource intensive, requiring a phone with at least 6GB of RAM to function.
This latest bug is, regrettably, not the first bricking issue to affect the Pixel 6 lineup. In July, reports surfaced of Pixel 6 phones bricking after a factory reset, and last year Forbes reported that updating to Android 14 had cost some users access to their local files and caused boot-looping.
It’s also not the only issue Pixel users are reporting with Android 15 – PhoneArena reported problems with the back gesture on the Pixel 8 Pro.
Additionally, across several models the Android 15 update rendered the Instagram app unusable (though there is a fix on the way).
Google released its stable version of Android 15 to Pixel phones on October 15. The Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 6a are the oldest Pixel models to receive the update.
Other phone makers like Motorola and OnePlus have either begun or announced the rollout of Android 15, which will give us a chance to see whether these issues are exclusive to Google’s Pixel family or because of faults with Android 15 itself.
We’ll update this article with any confirmed fixes. Until then, be sure to keep up with our Google Pixel phones coverage and Android coverage for the latest updates.
