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Android 12 QPR3 bug sees widgets frequently go blank and reload after Pixel screen rotation

After three months of beta testing, Android 12 QPR3 hit stable on Monday and is now more widely rolling out to Pixel phones. That said, one small bug with Android 12 QPR3 sees widgets often reload when you return to the homescreen following a rotation change.

This Android 12 widget bug starts when you’re viewing an app in landscape orientation, e.g. watching a fullscreen YouTube video. Returning to a homescreen that’s in portrait mode will cause any widget to reload. For a brief moment, you’ll just see a transparent gray box that features the widget’s name at the center.

That normally — but sparingly — occurs after you’ve been in an app for some time and exit to the homescreen. (This also occurs if the Pixel Launcher is every force stopped.) However, what’s different today is how consistently you can make the reload occur upon a rotation change.

Again, this only lasts for a second or two at most, but it’s quite visible and was not the case before on Android 12L with the May security patch or the current Android 13 Beta 3. The bug was present during QPR3 Beta 3, if not earlier.

Android 12 QPR3 (Pixel 6 Pro)

We tested several Pixel 5 and 6 devices today, and the vast majority could reproduce this issue consistently, but one did not. Other users are also encountering it. YouTube is the biggest culprit in our experience, but we also noticed the problem with Chrome and other third-party applications.

Android 12L (Pixel 5)

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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