Google Maps is an integral part of any modern-day smartphone, regardless of the platform. While it’s constantly updated with newer features, things can go wrong sometimes. Several users have approached the Maps support forum complaining about the broken picture-in-picture (PiP) mode on the app. Users say the Android 12 update has rendered the feature useless.
Going through some of the other complaints on the Google Support Page (via autoevolution), we learn that the PiP feature is also broken on other apps like Netflix and YouTube. User “Goose VF1” was the first to post on the Maps support forum, with several others responding subsequently.
“I’ve tried restarting, clearing cache, clearing data, uninstalling all updates, reinstalling all updates etc,” the user said. We further learn that the user operates a Samsung phone and lives in the United Kingdom. So the issue seems to affect customers across the board, regardless of the Android device they’re using. The user claims that PiP worked perfectly fine before the Android 12 update.
The January 2022 Pixel update has seemingly fixed this bug
But as per one user on the Maps support forum, PiP works as it should after the January 2022 security update. This was also confirmed by Phone Arena on their Pixel 6 Pro. But this doesn’t resolve the issue for customers on Samsung or other non-Pixel devices. However, manufacturers are likely working on fixing this issue.
The most recent posts on the original forum thread come from less than a day ago. By the looks of it, the PiP function is still non-functional on devices like the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S20. Perhaps Samsung will rectify this with the February 2022 security patch. As for Pixel owners, PiP should be working again as long as the devices have received the January Pixel update.
The PiP bug appears to be one of Android 12’s many bugs. Manufacturers like Samsung and OnePlus had to halt the update rollout last month due to several user complaints. Fortunately, the two companies turned things around rather quickly and resent the updates to customers.
While it’s customary to encounter bugs with every new Android release, Android 12 has seen a larger volume of bugs than previous releases. This has understandably caused several headaches for Google.
2022-02-01 15:07:55