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Microsoft Teams Update Will Fix 911 Call Freeze

By Laura Tucker
Microsoft Teams 911 Featured

The’re are tech bugs, and there are very problematic issues. The latest Android trouble definitely falls on the problematic issue side. An Android user who has Microsoft Teams installed reported that when they made an emergency 911 call, they experienced a phone freeze. Microsoft was quick to act on this report and has issued an update that should handle the problem.

Reddit User Reports 911 Freeze Issue

The issue with the Microsoft Teams user experiencing a 911 call freeze came to light after a Reddit user reported it on the social media site.

“My phone got stuck immediately after one ring, and I was unable to do anything other than click through apps with an emergency phone call running in the background,” reported the Pixel 3 user running Android 11 in a Reddit post. “This is all while the phone informed me that it had sent my location to emergency services.”

Microsoft Teams 911 Dark

Note that the Reddit user didn’t really have the time to play with their phone to figure out this issue. They were calling 911 because they believed their grandmother was having a stroke. Additionally, while the 911 dispatch had the caller’s address, they didn’t have their apartment number and didn’t know why they were calling. Did they need an ambulance, fire truck, or the police?

Luckily, the caller’s grandmother had a landline, so they were able to place a new call to handle the situation while dealing with the frozen phone.

Microsoft Teams Update Will Address the Problem

To Microsoft’s credit, it addressed this issue right away. It released an update to Microsoft Teams in an accompanying blog post discussing the 911 call mishap.

“An investigation was conducted and found that the issue, which is caused by an unintended interaction between the Teams app and Android operating system, is only present on a small number of devices with the Teams app installed when the user is not logged in,” Microsoft reported.

Microsoft Teams 911 Call

There are a few things of note in that short opening. For one, it’s reassuring to know it only happens to users who have Microsoft Teams installed. Yet, it’s also disturbing that this happens even if a user is not logged in.

Microsoft also noted that it worked “closely with Google to resolve this.” The result is an update to Microsoft Teams for Android users. This update “keeps the app from triggering the underlying issue” on Android.

After Microsoft pinned the issue on Google’s operating system, it also said Google plans to roll out its own update soon.

Google issued its own statement in a comment on the Reddit post and reported much of the same information. It also noted it’s only aware of it happening to the one Reddit user. The statement also noted that “because this issue impacts emergency calling, both Google and Microsoft are heavily prioritizing the issue.”

Microsoft Teams 911 Android

Google suggested that Android 10 and above users with Microsoft Teams installed confirm their Android version and check that they are logged in to Microsoft Teams. If they are, they will not experience the issue. It’s also suggested that they download the update as soon as possible.

While this situation is definitely ending with an “all’s well that ends well,” it’s still problematic that it would happen at all. It raises the question of whether this could happen with other apps. It’s also a good argument for not eliminating a landline phone from your home.

Read on to learn about ads for Microsoft default apps posing a problem for a Windows 11 build.

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Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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