DealNTech Mobiles, PCs, and All Things Tech
Google continuously adds new features with software updates to keep things exciting. However, updates sometimes go wrong, and optimization issues creep in.
Unfortunately, due to unintentional overlooks from developers, updates can cause a lot of trouble with your phone. After a security or feature update drops, we recommend waiting a day or two until people review them to check for issues. If there aren’t any major issues, you can update it later. This applies to all phones.
According to several reports on platforms like Reddit, there’s a major issue with internal storage on Pixels after the January update. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen storage issues on Pixels. These issues that pop up with internal storage malfunctions make the phone entirely unusable.
Since users can’t access their internal storage, they can’t open the camera and take photos, can’t even take screenshots, and sometimes users aren’t able to open applications on their phones. The reports aren’t specific to one Pixel model, and people using the Pixel 5A, 6 series, 7 series, and even the latest 8 series have such problems. This is a software issue.
Thankfully, Google officially acknowledged this problem, communicating that their team was investigating it. Likely, the issue is back after just two months; a similar issue rendered Pixels pretty much unusable in October 2023 (fixed in November). People buy Pixels for a consistent and reliable software experience, and this is a major letdown.
By the time Google rolled out an official fix, many people already reset their devices to factory settings. The general workarounds don’t help much; only a complete device works.
The problem is not with the security patch but with the Google Play System update. Google uses Google Play updates to deliver important security updates fast. The staged rollout of the January 2024 Google Play is the culprit here. Since it’s a staged rollout, not everyone has these issues with their Pixels yet.
If your device is on the November Google Play update, we don’t recommend updating to the January update until it is stable. Google has now officially confirmed that it was a problem with the Google Play update. It results in problems with app openings, and the Files app doesn’t show you any files, etc. They’re currently working on a fix to the root cause of this problem.
When the issue happened in 2023, it was only for a limited number of Pixel phones. It’s a lot more widespread now. There’s one workaround from Google at the moment. You don’t have to reset your device. You need ADB tools on your PC/ laptop to run these ADB commands, which will fix the issue.
Note: If you don’t want to use ADB commands, you have to factory reset your phone. There’s no other way until Google issues a fix.
- Turn on Developer Options (Tap on the Build Number 7 times).
- Turn on USB Debugging. You may turn these off after the process.
- Run the following ADB Commands:
- ./adb uninstall com.google.android.media.swcodec
./adb uninstall com.google.android.media - Restart your phone.
For a full list of instructions from Google on how to do this, you can visit their official page on Google Forums.
Meanwhile, the January 2024 feature drop for Pixels introduces Circle to Search. It also enables body temperature detection. We hope Google rolls out a patch for the storage issue with a concurrent update.
