Owners of Google Pixel smartphones found that playing a specific YouTube clip of the movie Alien in 4K HDR made their smartphones crash — but what’s really going on? This isn’t the first time a photo or video has caused Android smartphones to crash. Notably, back in 2020, setting a specific photo as a smartphone’s wallpaper would instantly crash select Android smartphones. While the bug was more prominent on Samsung smartphones, it was also found on some Pixel phones and other Android devices. In that circumstance, the issue wasn’t limited to just one restart — setting the photo as a wallpaper would cause affected smartphones to endlessly boot loop.
The bug, first spotted by Android Authority, was documented by Pixel users in a Reddit thread on Feb. 25. The original Redditor, u/OGPixel5, first explained that watching this YouTube clip of Alien would instantly crash their device. In the following days, numerous Pixel owners tested the video on their devices and experienced crashes and normal reboots. However, some users reported losing cell service after the system crash. According to these users, restarting the device after the initial reboot restored the cellular connectivity of their Pixel smartphones.
Related: Google’s Latest Pixel 6 Bugs Declines Calls Without The User Knowing
Is The Bug Fixed Now?
The bug seems to be fixed, as confirmed by the original Reddit poster. Screen Rant played the video on a Pixel 7 Pro on Feb. 28 and did not experience any crashes. To further push the device, our Pixel 7 Pro tried playing the video in full 4K resolution with HDR on. Still, Screen Rant‘s Pixel 7 Pro did not crash at any point while watching the Alien clip in the YouTube app.
Users have reported that multiple generations of Pixel smartphones were affected, including the latest Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro models. The issue was also spotted on the Pixel 6 generation, but tests of earlier generations did not result in a crash. Since Google switched to their own in-house Google Tensor processors for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 generations, it’s possible the bug was connected to the company’s system-on-a-chip. That would also explain why the issue hasn’t been replicated on other Android devices, like Samsung smartphones.
Google told 9to5Google that the issue would be addressed in the upcoming March update for Pixel smartphones, but didn’t share any additional information about the bug. For now, it appears that most Pixel smartphones should play the YouTube clip without any issues. With that in mind, Pixel users should be wary of trying it out for themselves if they are daily driving an affected device.
More: Magic Eraser Is Coming To iOS & Android, & That’s A Bad Thing
