A bug report is now open on the Google Issue Tracker, discussing how games like Wild Rift or Pokémon Go can crash when the background wallpaper is refreshed or changed. While nobody would pause their gameplay and change the wallpaper, this issue can be particularly concerning if users have automated wallpaper changers. XDA Developers managed to recreate the issue on the Pixel 6 Pro with games like PUBG Mobile, Minecraft, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Genshin Impact. So this issue could be widespread.
The only fix right now is to turn off automated wallpaper changers
Some digging around by XDA (via) reveals that this could be due to a configuration change on Android. The conventional Android behavior is to ignore “configuration changes,” which include dark mode, locale changes, and screen rotation. However, Google seemingly introduced a change with Android 12, forcing activities/tasks to restart whenever the wallpaper changes in the background. “Activities will be scheduled for restart via the regular life-cycle. This is similar to a configuration change but since ApplicationInfo changes are too low-level we don’t permit apps to opt out,” the commit reads. Unfortunately, it seems like developers may not be able to get around this particular issue. The only fix right now is to disable automated wallpaper changers on your device. Since the issue is seemingly common, we expect Google to share more information on this over the coming weeks. Google also has to contend with a bevy of issues related to the new Pixel 6. Multiple users reported green flickers on the screen when pressing the power button. Thankfully, this only occurs when the phone is off. Google later said it would fix this with an update in December. Not much later, some users managed to discover a second punch hole on their Pixel 6 Pro. However, this issue isn’t widespread. Moreover, the Google Store later provided the customer with a replacement phone. It’s safe to say that the Pixel 6 release has been far from ideal for Google. This was expected to some extent, given that the new flagship marks the debut of some new hardware features, including the Google Tensor chip.
