Google app bug preventing users from tapping to launch apps on some Pixel phones, fix in the works

05:21 pm (IST): A Google Product Expert and some users confirmed that the fix to the issue was already deployed. The Google app update that returns things to normal is 15.0.14.28.arm64, and in case it is not yet available to you in the Play Store, you can download the APK safely from APK Mirror.

Original article follows:

For a while now, some Pixel phone users have been facing an annoying issue where they are unable to launch apps from the Google app search bar results, but it looks like the company is finally working on a fix.

The bug in question has been present for quite some time, since there have been similar reports even since July of this year. Basically, it prevents some users from launching an app by tapping on the icon after searching for it in the Google app search bar, which can be quite frustrating.

According to reports, when those affected tap on an app icon from the Google search bar, it just makes the visual effect of tapping (a kind of ‘gray circle’ over the icon), but the app does not open, without apparent explanation.

Apparently, the common factor in most reports is that users have a Pixel device of some age. More specifically, users of the Pixel 5 series and older are the most likely to face it.

Still, we’ve come across a few reports from Pixel 6 series users as well, like the following one:

Affected people have tried multiple methods to try to resolve the bug, such as uninstalling Google app updates and then reinstalling them, and even disabling the main Google app to install Google Go. However, although this helped resolve it temporarily, it resurfaced shortly after.

Fortunately, months after the first related reports emerged, there is finally an official word on the matter, and it brings good news. A Product Expert recently replied to a Google support forum thread that the dev team sent them the following message: ‘The Engineering team has identified the source of the issue. Thank you for all the feedback and they are working on a fix.’

So, it is only a matter of time before a fix is ready, although unfortunately there is no ETA for it. Hopefully the fix will not take long to deploy so that affected users can use such a useful and practical, yet basic, feature again.