PSA: December update for Pixel 3, 3a causing crashing issue w/ Pixel Launcher

Ben Schoon | Dec 3 2019 - 9:28 am PT

Google just released the December security patch for its Pixel smartphones yesterday, but there’s an unfortunate issue for users on Pixel 3 devices. Apparently, the Pixel Launcher is continually crashing on Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a when using gesture navigation.

Reddit threads and tweets have come out since Google started rolling out this update yesterday showing this widespread crashing issue. When using the device, the Pixel Launcher continually crashes on the Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, and the Pixel 3a/XL too.

The issue itself is tied back to Android 10’s new gesture navigation. With that option enabled, users see their Pixel Launcher crashing while those with the 2-button or 3-button options enabled aren’t seeing the problem. Presumably, something went wrong with whatever changes Google made to enable gesture navigation on 3rd-party launchers.

The folks over at Android Police noted that some users have been able to fix this issue with a full reset of the device, but an easier solution seems to be uninstalling updates to the Pixel Launcher.

Notably, many of the affected users had previously sideloaded versions of the Pixel Launcher from the Pixel 4. There are also some reports from Pixel 2, but they’re not as common.

More than likely this is something Google can resolve with either another OTA or an update to the Pixel Launcher through the Google Play Store. In either case, you might want to hold off updating if you use gesture navigation with the Pixel Launcher on a Pixel 3 to avoid this crashing issue. You can see the problem in action in the tweet below.