A Quick Fix for Google Pixel Freezing while Making Calls

Do you own a Google Pixel or Pixel XL phone? If you do you might be familiar with the pains that most Pixel users are going through recently. I myself own a Google Pixel and I am one of those unfortunate users who are facing this issue where the phone suddenly freezes while making or receiving calls.

I know exactly how you feel. Because we never expected that kind of problem with a Google phone, at least. The weirdest thing is it started happening recently after installing the latest updates. Some experts are referring to it as a microphone issue. But why does it sometimes work and sometimes don’t? Doesn’t make sense.

In this guide I am going to share a temporary fix that might solve the problem for most of the users. It worked for me and a few users that I know personally. The procedure is not cumbersome at all. I have taken screenshots just for the purpose of demonstrating it, so just follow along.

What is the problem exactly?

It’s hard to tell the exact problem because different users are facing different kinds of issues. But almost all of the issues are related to the Phone app not working correctly. Here are the different variations of complains made by Google Pixel users:

• My phone freezes on outgoing and incoming calls
• The call timer starts but sender / receiver cannot communicate with each other
• After restarting the phone the call problem goes away, but only for a few minutes
• The problem doesn’t go away even after restarting the phone

Fix for Google Pixel Phone App problem

Almost all of the complaints related to this issue point to one app, which is the Google Phone app. On Google PlayStore it goes by the title “Phone by Google – Caller ID & Spam Protection”. The fix is very simple but it’s temporary. I can’t say for sure how long it will last but for me it’s been working for a few days without any problem.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to Settings > Apps and Notifications > Phone
   
2. Now click on the “Storage & Cache” menu option
   
3. On the next screen, you will see two options, “Clear Cache” and “Clear Storage”. First clear the cache and then the storage
   
4. Once that’s done, you need to go to the Google PlayStore and search for the Google Phone app
   
5. Next, you need to uninstall the App / Update package by simply clicking on the “Uninstall” button. Trust me don’t hesitate on this one
   
6. Now restart the phone and that should fix the problem, at least temporarily.

Quite simple right? This procedure definitely worked for me and I’ve been using my phone ever since without the freezing issue. If this works for you, do share the guide with other Pixel owners so they can get out of this misery. If the problem resurfaces, simple repeat the process.

Do let us know in the comments whether it works for you or not. Also share other tips, workarounds if possible.