Don’t Upgrade Yet: Android 15’s Private Space May Brick Your Pixel 6

Android 15 officially launched on Oct. 15 with a lot of goodies, but one of those upgrades—Private Space—may be bricking Pixel 6 devices.

As Android Police reports, multiple people on Reddit say their Pixel 6 smartphones are dead after upgrading to Android 15 and enabling Private Space, which allows users to hide apps behind biometric security, thereby preventing potential malcontents from accessing sensitive data.

For the time being, there are no fixes. Thus, Pixel 6 owners may want to avoid updating to Android 15 or using Private Space if they’re already installed it. The issue seems to have only affected the Pixel 6 and, according to one Reddit user, the Pixel 6 Pro.

“I unlocked the private space area, opened an app I installed in it, and it bricked my Pixel 6. I can’t turn the phone on or reboot it using the methods provided by Google. It’s completely dead,” one user on Reddit wrote.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. As Android Police notes, this isn’t the only trouble Android 15 is causing. Some Pixel 8 Pro users are experiencing issues with gesture controls after the update as well.

The issue comes one year after the Android 14 update caused a local storage bug on Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel 8 devices. Affected users had to deal with boot loops until they factory reset their phones, which didn’t always work. Google eventually fixed the issue but many people lost their data in the process.

Samsung also had some update woes earlier this month. The phone maker’s October 2024 update caused the Galaxy S10, Note 10, and a few other models to experience boot loops, requiring a factory reset. The bad update was pulled and later replaced by Samsung.

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About Joe Hindy

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Hello, my name is Joe and I am a tech blogger. My first real experience with tech came at the tender age of 6 when I started playing Final Fantasy IV (II on the SNES) on the family’s living room console. As a teenager, I cobbled together my first PC build using old parts from several ancient PCs, and really started getting into things in my 20s. I served in the US Army as a broadcast journalist. Afterward, I served as a news writer for XDA-Developers before I spent 11 years as an Editor, and eventually Senior Editor, of Android Authority. I specialize in gaming, mobile tech, and PC hardware, but I enjoy pretty much anything that has electricity running through it.

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