The Android emergency service may suffer a peculiar error that has already been confirmed by Google. If you have Microsoft Teams installed, and as long as the application is not logged in, emergency calls could be blocked, with the enormous risk that this entails during a delicate situation. Google and Microsoft are already working on a solution.
Mobile phones can call anyone with a telephone as long as they have coverage with the operator of the SIM inserted in the mobile (there are also calls via WiFi), but there is a situation in which any network is suitable for a call: the emergency. The mobile will do its best to establish communication; hence, any problem in said mobile can be catastrophic. Like what Google has corroborated.
Android may crash on an emergency call
As is often the case with very specific errors or “bugs”, a series of circumstances must occur, and a certain coincidence, for the emergency call to block an Android mobile. Even so, it is a real risk, what can happen and what Google is already patching so that it arrives urgently on mobiles with Android 10 and higher.
As Reddit users reported, and Google itself later confirmed, emergency calls can block an Android device if it happens that the user has Microsoft Teams installed and that app is not logged in.
According to Google:
“We determined that the issue was caused by an unintended interaction between the Microsoft Teams app and the underlying Android operating system. Because this problem affects emergency calls, both at Google and Microsoft are giving the problem a high priority; and we hope that an update to the Microsoft Teams app will be rolled out soon“.
Recommendations to avoid the problem are to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Teams, update it when the next version is released, stay signed in, and update Android 10 and higher with the security patch that Google plans to distribute on January 4. The latter is more complicated because not all brands promptly update the security of their devices.
Microsoft is working on the solution for its Teams app: update as the new version is released
Although the error is very localized, that does not imply that risks cease to exist. And, since during an emergency call the main thing is to establish communication, that there is the possibility that the mobile is blocked is not exactly good news.
Via | 9to5Google