An unsettling bug found on the new OnePlus 5, one of the best-reviewed smartphones of 2017, appears to be preventing users from calling 911.
Seattle resident Nick Morrelli said he came across the defect when he saw a building on fire a few blocks away from him. He took out his smartphone and dialed 911 to notify firefighters. Things didn’t go as planned.
“On Sunday morning I went out on the balcony and saw that about 10 blocks away there was a building on fire,” Morrelli told the Daily Dot. “I called 911 to report it, and whenever I did that, and I tried twice, my phone would just reboot.”
Morrelli later posted his story on Reddit with a Facebook video showing his phone shut down and restart after attempting to test call 911.
https://www.facebook.com/nick.morrelli/videos/10155621873214602/
Morrelli said OnePlus contacted him a number of times regarding the incident. A company rep even walked him through accessing his log files. But after one successful attempt, the phone started to act up again: “Out of five times calling 911 only one went through.”
The small Chinese company is working on the log files that Morrelli sent to its global headquarters. The smartphone manufacturer mentioned it may even send an engineer over to his house.
The flaw is especially concerning for Morrelli, who has had to call emergency dispatch on a number of occasions.
“My wife had a heart transplant almost a year ago so I’ve had to call 911 a few times,” he said. “I also called 911 last February during a wedding when the father of the groom passed out and his heart stopped during his speech. I actually got a reward for being the first to call 911. It was a very unsettling experience to have on Sunday morning, I wanted to eventually recreate the problem in a controlled environment.”
OnePlus told Morrelli it will either refund or replace his device.
The response from fellow OnePlus 5 customers has been a mix of concern and curiosity. At least three users have been able to replicate the unsettling flaw.
It still isn’t clear if the bug is limited to 911 or other numbers, though a few Reddit users in the U.K. appear to have come across the same problem dialing 999. One redditor says Europe’s emergency number, 112, also causes the phone to shut down.
OnePlus told the Next Web that it is investigating: “We have contacted the customer and are currently looking into the issue. We ask anyone experiencing a similar situation to contact us at support@oneplus.net.”
If you own a OnePlus 5 you should absolutely call your local non-emergency police stations, and set up a time to test call 911.
We have reached out to OnePlus and will update this story when we receive more information.
Update 11:19am CT, July 20: OnePlus sent Morrelli a test file that fixed the 911 issue. The company is now rolling out a software update to all OnePlus 5 users.
“We have begun rolling out the software update. Timing may vary by region,” a OnePlus representative told the Verge. “We encourage OnePlus 5 users to download the update. If users haven’t received a notification, check for the update by going to ‘Settings’ > ‘System Updates.’”
