Android 14 is now available to the general public, as public beta testing began earlier this week. In typical Google fashion, the first beta comes after the company released two Developer Preview builds for app makers to test their software and fix compatibility issues. Bugs and instability are synonymous with betas, but we hoped that Google would eliminate many of them in developer betas. We couldn’t have been more seriously wrong, and here are all the issues we’ve found in Android 14 Beta 1 so far.

Right off the bat, booting into Android 14 Beta 1 shows us an annoying app crash dialog for a service called com.android.qns. A little research reveals this to be a fairly widespread issue, occurring on almost every Pixel starting in the new beta. Google has acknowledged this flaw in your face, but it appears to be an essential service related to cellular connectivity. A concerned redditor reported the inability to make or receive calls.

Fixed: Power Cycle

Some people have had luck restoring their connection to the cellular network after rebooting the phone once (power off then back on, different from a soft reboot). The service crash dialog reappears, but so does cellular connectivity. On our home devices, we saw the crash dialog, but we didn’t see the absolute loss of cellular network connectivity.

Bug: missing cellular connection type in status bar

Somewhat related to the problem with com.android.qns, there are many reports of a missing indicator for the cellular network type in the status bar. Usually, the cellular network strength indicator is accompanied by a small icon indicating whether the phone is using a 4G or 5G network. With this lack, it can be quite difficult to know if things like file downloads will take a minute or a few seconds. Some reports show longer transfer times from Wi-Fi to cellular and vice versa, or unstable cellular connections. However, these seem to be isolated cases.

Fix: Disappear to reappear

Some Android 14 Beta 1 users on Reddit have identified a handy way to fix the cellular connection icon in the status bar. This involves turning off Wi-Fi on your Pixel, then turning off the Use SIM card switch momentarily before turning it back on. The option is under Settings -> Network & internet -> The Internet –> Gear icon next to the name of your SIM card.

This fix worked on one of our affected devices, but only until we locked the screen. You may see another crash report for com.android.qns after the process, linking the service to cellular connectivity, but this is of no consequence. This appears to be a rather finicky bug and your experience may vary greatly.

Bug: the wallpaper and style application is unusable

When the beta dropped, we immediately wanted to find new wallpapers, but couldn’t access the wallpaper and style settings. A bug in the dynamic theme toggle for icons is the cause, and also seems to be quite widespread. The applet is currently inaccessible by long-pressing on the home screen or through the Settings app.

Fix: bite the bullet

You can still change wallpapers from the Photos app, and the dynamic icon theme isn’t broken either. However, the only known workaround is rather tedious, involving deleting app data for Pixel Launcher or disabling dynamic theming for icons before updating to Android 14 Beta 1 in the first place. There is also an entry for this issue on Google Issue Tracker, so hopefully this will be resolved with a fix.

Bug: Fingerprint unlock not working

If you have fingerprint unlock configured, you may not be able to use it on latest Android 14 beta. Although it works on our devices, several users say that fingerprint unlock is broken on the lock screen and they are forced to use the PIN or pattern they previously set up as failsafe. This appears to be an issue with the Android OS’s biometric unlock system, as enrolling new fingerprints and using the scanner to unlock apps with standalone biometric security features works just fine.

Fix: Use a different unlock method

This widespread problem also seems to come and go erratically for many people. Most often, the problem appears after a reboot, but the scanner works soon after. Users have filed a bug report, but there’s no workaround in sight, except perhaps switching to face unlock. It is less secure, but still works smoothly. If you’re comfortable with a PIN or pattern unlock, we suggest turning off fingerprint unlock so you’re not constantly reminded of its broken state.

Bug: Unable to select text in Recent Apps view

One of our favorite Pixel features was to select on-screen text in Recent Apps view. However, the Android 14 Beta 1 update seems to have introduced a problem in this regard. The system detects text in the Recent Apps view as Google Lens, but does not allow user selection or any related actions such as copying text.

Fix: wait for beta 2

Google acknowledged the problem on Issue Tracker and may recreate it in the Developer Preview build. However, he declared the issue deprecated saying that it does not appear on the internal development build, which is slightly ahead of the public beta. This might be a finicky problem we’re facing, but there’s reason to hope it will be fixed soon.

Bug: adaptive brightness does not adapt

One of the annoying bugs is the adaptive brightness setting which simply refuses to work. We haven’t experienced it personally, running the latest beta, but Reddit users say the issue is widespread enough that Google took notice and released a fix. However, we don’t see any bug reports, so hope is slim.

Bug: applications malfunction

On Android, one of the fundamental functions you expect is for apps to run error-free. However, Android 14 beta has issues with running critical apps like BHIM UPI (a payment service in India), Google Pay, PayTm, Google One VPN, etc. Popular games like Clash Royale and Clash of Clans also crash for a few. users.

It’s an exercise in futility to compile a comprehensive list of apps that don’t work on the latest beta, mainly because some apps work for some people, while they don’t work for others. If you try to uninstall apps, you might notice that the UI freezes for a few moments before responding to your touch inputs. Responsiveness also lags for a few minutes after uninstalling.

Bug: Notification shade issues

A few Reddit users say that the status bar flashes constantly for a few moments after lowering the notification shade. This problem is quite widespread, but has not yet appeared on our devices. This could be an issue with the drop down animation or with the UI implementation of the notification shade itself. The Google Issue Tracker has a dedicated record for the issue, so hopefully a fix is ​​in this very leaky pipeline.

Bug: AOD and Ambient Display not working when charging wirelessly

This could be related to the fingerprint sensor issue on the lock screen, but at least one of our phones refuses to switch to ambient display during wireless charging. If you load an unlocked Pixel, it normally automatically locks after the stipulated amount of time – this still seems to happen on Android 14 Beta 1, but instead of the AOD appearing when locked, the wallpaper just pops up darken. It’s like the device gets stuck on the lock screen when placed on a charger.

What the screen looks like during wireless charging

If you lock the screen and then start wireless charging, a screen saver or AOD may not appear, but the fingerprint reader indicator remains. This could risk burning out the pixels on the OLED display for the time it takes to charge most Pixel phones wirelessly. This problem seems to have gone unreported so far, but we are seeing it on one of our Pixel phones here at Android Police. We also noted a particularly empty settings page for Ambient Mode, a Google Assistant feature.

Dealing with these and many other sporadic issues with day-to-day apps and critical features can be nightmarish, and Google has a lot of work pending to fix them before rolling out the next update.

While this is a collection of everything wrong with Android 14 at the moment, make no mistake, the OS update packs a ton of useful features and optimizations. behind the scenes for a safer and more enjoyable user experience – if you want to see for yourself without risking these bugs, we’ve done a hands-on test with Android 14 Beta 1. We’ll continue to update this article as more we’ll find out more relevant annoyances, Google’s thanks, and their fixes. Hopefully the list is kept short and none of them reach the stable version of Android 14 later this year.