Critical Storage Bug Affecting Pixel Phones

Google halts January 2024 update as users report loss of access to internal storage, similar to an issue faced in October.

Overview

Pixel users are reporting a critical storage permission bug that has locked them out of their phones' internal storage, causing app crashes and a real possibility of data loss.
The bug is reportedly similar to a storage bug that affected Pixel phones in October, with symptoms including internal storage not getting mounted, camera crashes, and files not being saved.
The bug has been reported across Google Pixel 5, 6, 7, 8, and Fold series devices, with the Pixel 7a, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro reportedly affected.
Some users suspect that the bug is related to having a secondary work profile on their devices.
Google has paused the January 2024 update while it investigates the issue and is yet to provide a solution beyond resetting impacted devices to their factory settings.