Install Microsoft Teams Update for Android Now to Fix the 911 Calling Bug

Microsoft Teams has rolled out a fix for a dangerous bug that could be preventing Android users from calling 911—and you'll want to install it ASAP (via Android Police). In his analysis of the issue on Medium, Arizona Senior Technical Editor Mishaal Rahman explains that Microsoft has fixed the issue in an update to the Teams app.

A user on Reddit initially discovered the bug when he tried to call 911 from his Pixel 3, prompting Google to explain. The company said the problem was triggered by an "unexpected interaction" between the Android operating system and the Teams app. This only affects users who have devices running Android 10 or later, and who have the Teams app installed but aren't signed in. However, Google still advised all users with Android 10 or above to uninstall Teams anyway.

But if you haven't uninstalled Teams, be sure to update it as soon as possible. Rahman noted that version 1416/1.0.0.2021194504 addressed the problem, which he found was creating duplicate instances of the PhoneAccount class in the Android operating system, a function that lets apps make and receive phone calls. . That said, many Android apps that have a calling feature will create a PhoneAccount instance, but in the case of Teams, it was creating a lot more when the user accessed the app while not signed in.

Rahman notes that the updated version does not create duplicate PhoneAccount instances, and will also clean up already created PhoneAccount instances upon launch. Google is also planning to release an update for Android on January 4th, so hopefully this in itself will help fix anything that goes wrong. You can install the updated version of Microsoft Teams from the Google Play Store.