GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Several first-gen Google Pixel Fold users are reportedly experiencing a bug in which the cover screen randomly goes black or stops responding after a recent software update.
One user found that the outer display still shows the Google logo during boot, suggesting the issue is software-related rather than a dead screen or hardware failure.
Google has not yet released an official fix, but a temporary workaround reportedly involves using the Fold Switcher app from GitHub or F-Droid to restore the cover display.
Foldable phones are supposed to give you the best of both worlds — a cover display for quick tasks and a large inner screen for everything else. So when one of those screens suddenly stops working, the experience falls apart fast. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening to several first-generation Google Pixel Fold users after a recent update. Reddit user Chahine_sama recently shared a particularly strange issue with the original Pixel Fold.
According to the post, the phone had been acting oddly for months. Sometimes the cover display would randomly go black and stop responding. Other times, it was the inner folding screen that would do the same thing instead. The behavior was inconsistent, which somehow made it even more confusing. Oddly enough, a simple reboot always brought the dead screen back to life, so the issue never seemed serious at first. It felt more like one of those annoying software hiccups you ignore because restarting fixes everything anyway.
Then the issue took a more serious turn. According to the user, the Pixel Fold eventually powered off completely after the battery drained to 0%. But once it was charged and turned back on, the outer cover display stopped working entirely. The inner folding screen continued to function normally, while the cover screen remained completely black.
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However, the cover display is not actually dead. Every time the Pixel Fold boots up, the screen lights up properly and shows the Google logo without any problem. But as soon as Android finishes loading, the display turns black again, making it unusable. That strongly suggests this is not a hardware failure or a broken panel. Instead, something in the software appears to be disabling the screen after startup.
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