Google backtracks after dismissing Pixel bug reports tied to lock screen freezes and bootloops

Google closed a bug report about Pixel phones getting stuck in bootloops after the March 2026 update, then reversed course days later after affected users pushed back publicly.

The issue is tracked on Google’s Issue Tracker under bug #496495772. It involves the March 2026 Pixel OTA. After installing the update, some devices get stuck cycling between the lock screen and Android Recovery. Others accept the PIN, go black, and never load the home screen.

Android Authority had first reported on the lock screen freeze problem in March, when complaints were already coming in from Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 9, and Pixel 10 series owners. What the Issue Tracker thread makes clear is that for a chunk of those users, it goes further than a frozen lock screen. Their phones are genuinely unusable.

Affected devices in the thread span from the Pixel 6 all the way to the Pixel 10 Pro XL. Several users say they are locked out of banking apps and two-factor authentication codes. One person said they had to buy a new phone just to keep working. Another has 15 months of their child’s photos sitting on a device they cannot get into.

Google’s handling of the report did not help. A Google engineer marked the bug “Won’t Fix (Obsolete)” on March 31, pointing users toward the general Help Center.

By April 2, a different engineer had quietly reopened it, with a note acknowledging the frustration and saying the team is “actively working to identify a fix.”

Google engineers in the Issue Tracker have been asking for bug reports to help speed up the investigation. 

Pixel Support, for its part, has apparently been offering factory resets and device replacements. Neither option does much for someone trying to recover data from an encrypted partition that they cannot access.

At least one user in the thread noted that they were waiting for the April update, which might go live later today, to solve the problem. Since Google’s engineers haven’t yet marked this as “fixed,” it’s unclear if the April update will even bring a fix.

We’ll keep an eye out for any further developments and will update the article accordingly.

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