Reinstall Microsoft Teams Before You Need to Dial 911
We all love to joke that we never use our smartphones like real phones – I mean, really, who calls people in 2021? But if you are in an emergency, your first instinct is to grab your phone and dial 911 anyway. If your smartphone is not capable of this, it will be a big problem. Unfortunately, some Android users who have installed Microsoft Teams may find their devices in this category – not being able to make a call as it is very important.
Due to a bug, some Android phones are unable to call emergency services.
Take this from Reddit user KitchenPicture5849 who needed to call his grandma’s emergency services. They used their Pixel 3 to make emergency calls, but after one ring, their phone “froze” immediately. The user was unable to do anything other than view their apps while an emergency phone call was being made in the background. Although their pixel informed them that their location had been sent to emergency services, there was no way to confirm this fact by actually talking to the dispatcher on the phone.
Fortunately, KitchenPicture was able to use her grandmother’s landline phone to call for help, but that’s not the solution; any cell phone should be able to dial 911 reliably in any situation.
Since then, Google has publicly addressed the issue by responding to the original Reddit thread after u / PixelCommunity confirmed the bug on Pixel devices running Android 10 and newer. Cause? Having a Microsoft Teams app without signing in .
This is a fancy trigger for a fancy error, and we’re still not sure why not signing in to Teams is causing the emergency call to hang. But whatever the reason, the mistake is real and serious. To address this issue, Google is reporting that Microsoft will soon release a hotfix for the Teams app on Android; Google will release its own fix in the big Android update on January 4th.
How to prevent this error from preventing emergency calls on Android
Until then, however, there are steps you must take now to prevent this error from affecting you in the event of an accident. First, if you have Microsoft Teams on your Android device, make sure you’re signed in. If you open the app and see the login page, uninstall the app immediately and reinstall it. Google says uninstalling and reinstalling the app should fix the bug for now, although an official bug fix is still needed. Until then, be prepared for emergencies and stay safe.
[ XDA Developers ]