Nov 5, 2021

My phone keeps calling 911 and then going into a reboot cycle for 20 minutes

It seems like an Android 12 problem because I've never had this happen before. Every day at 4:35pm my phone tries to call 911 using the emergency services app (I've disabled, somehow it keeps reactivating itself). In some cases I can't stop it from calling 911, it will do it multiple times before going into a 20 minute long cycle of rebooting.

Details

Other,Pixel device,Report an issue or problem

Locked

Informational notification.

This question is locked and replying has been disabled.

Community content may not be verified or up-to-date. Learn more.

Recommended Answer

PeggyK

Platinum Product Expert

“To know what you know and know what you do not know — this then is wisdom."

Jan 15, 2022

Hi all, if the restarting and dialing of 911 is still happening:

Remove your phone case, shield or anything else that might inadvertently press the power button

Turn off the "Emergency SOS" feature:

Open your phone’s Settings app.
Tap Safety & emergency Emergency SOS.
Turn off Use Emergency SOS.

That should prevent the 911 calls at least.

If this is still an issue after you have done that, please post back here.

Platinum Product Expert PeggyK recommended this

Helpful?

All Replies (181)

Brian Casado

Nov 10, 2021

Hello all, it happens randomly for me and started two days after upgrading to Android 12 on my Pixel 3. It just happened about 5 minutes ago and in looking up the issue, I found this thread. I have found that you can bypass the bootloop cycle by holding the power button.

PeggyK

Platinum Product Expert

“To know what you know and know what you do not know — this then is wisdom."

Apr 15, 2022

Hi all, please contact support if you have not done so already. On a Pixel phone you can do that under Settings > Tips & support > Contact us.

You should also report this to Google directly, by sending feedback from your phone

How to report an issue:

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/6398243?hl=en

Last edited Apr 15, 2022

Mitch Dean 4493

Apr 15, 2022

Or, instead of all of us creating tickets. Google could acknowledge this problem, and apologize to it's users that have had to talk to the police and explain that their phone keeps calling them and they can't make it stop, and apologize to the police departments who are getting these calls.

User 15037789891755305526

Apr 15, 2022

My phone dialed 911 today about 10 times. I couldn't turn the phone off and as soon as I would tell the 911 operators it was a phone issue it would redial. Talk about embarrassing and an abuse of the 911 system. I was finally able to stop the restart loop and turn the phone off. The phone also became extremely hot. I spent over 1 hour with google support and they acted like this was a first time issue. I have not turned my phone on due to the fear that it will continue to dial 911 on its own. What a headache.

User 12844815054317431451

Apr 16, 2022

An update did eventually fix this for me, BTW. Andoird 12 seems to have a few quirks but if up to date that is no longer one of them.

User 9691008744059956590

Apr 22, 2022

I recently had the update (around 19th April 2022) and my phone cycled through the lock screen (typically 1 press), camera (typically a double press) and then it did it 5 times and called the Emergency SOS and called the UK police (typically a quick 5 button press). It then wouldn't let me cancel the call as it cycled through the lock screen, camera and emergency services screen! I had to contact the police to tell them I was not in danger! It then got stuck in a rebooting loop! I've disabled the SOS button. It was very frustrating and concerning as it's a waste of police time! @Google - do you have a solution for this?

User 13723227432218717135

Apr 23, 2022

Same issue... Set phone (pixel 3) to charge and it went into a reboot loop then called emergency services. Cancelled call and left phone alone. It did it again later when I picked phone up to take it off charge. This seems a serious fault which needs an urgent fix.

User 1223867157514027754

Apr 27, 2022

Same Issue here. Turned off the SOS, but it still keep rebooting. :(

User 1004190106444270294

Apr 29, 2022

I have a Pixel 3 and this has been happening for me periodically since early January. It seems to be related to a press of the power button - often when I double press to take a picture (I probably shouldn't do that anymore). The phone will start freaking out, dialing 911, blaring some SOS sound, and rebooting. Once it finishes rebooting, the cycle starts again - dial 911, blare SOS sound and reboot. Sometimes the rebooting can be stopped by a hard press on the power button, sometimes it stops rebooting automatically after a while.

I contacted Google Support about this and they had me do the following:

1. Uninstall Updates from the Phone and Contacts apps, and then re-install updates via the Play Store (Settings --> Apps --> All Apps --> Phone, then tap the three dots at the top of the screen and select Uninstall Updates. Do the same for the Contacts app)

2. Then goto the Play store and search for Phone and Contacts, and tap Update on both

I have no idea if this is actually a fix for this issue, or just a generic support response for "customer claims that phone automatically dials numbers" or something, but figured I would share.

FWIW, I also disabled the Emergency SOS capability (Settings --> Safety & Emergency --> Emergency SOS). Also, I'm not on Fi - just a regular old Pixel owner, but I do use Google Voice.

This is obviously a serious safety issue and I find it unbelievable that Google doesn't have a fix, or at least an official response in this thread. Maybe it's time for me to ditch Pixel.

Last edited Apr 29, 2022

User 2910369135973659454

May 5, 2022

This started happening to me yesterday out of the blue and has rendered my phone completely unusable. It is constantly detecting "phantom" power button inputs, even when it's sitting flat on a table, out of its case (to be sure the case is not somehow applying any pressure on the power button). Originally it auto-dialed 911 because it inaccurately sensed an input from the power button 5 times in a row (which, frankly, seems like an unwise default). When the phone gets into this cycle, it ends up restarting constantly for HOURS; this gets the phone quite warm and has drained the whole of the battery.

I've historically been very satisfied with my Pixel 3 and was planning to sign up for Pixel Pass once the Pixel 7 came out. However, this is such a significant flaw, and, based on this thread, is clearly widespread. If there is not a timely resolution to this issue and customers are instead getting stuck with completely unusable phones (which, by default, auto-dial 911 multiple times a day), then I can't in good conscience proceed with the purchase of another Pixel phone.

(And to be clear, NOT auto-dialing 911 is not alone a sufficient resolution for this issue -- I've already turned off this "SOS mode" and changed the auto-dial number to my own number to mitigate the risk. Any acceptable solution must also address the phantom power button inputs and break the never-ending reboot cycle so the phone can be usable in some semblance of its normal capacity)

@PeggyK - would love to try your recommendation for support -- "Settings > Tips & support > Contact us" -- but the phantom inputs disrupt the process and force reboot before I can get through the contact form. Will try finding a contact number to call for support instead...

PeggyK

Platinum Product Expert

“To know what you know and know what you do not know — this then is wisdom."

May 6, 2022

If you are a Google Fi customer, you can contact Google Fi support at https://support.google.com/fi/gethelp

Pixel Phone support is here: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/gethelp

You can select "next step" if the offered support suggestions don't work.

I see "get a call" and chat as support options there.

User 11658668128656342420