This Wallpaper May Brick Your Android Phone

A new wallpaper that is doing the rounds on the internet is soft-bricking several Android phones. Yes, simply setting the wallpaper may potentially render your phone useless.

WARNING！！！Never set this picture as wallpaper, especially for Samsung mobile phone users!It will cause your phone to crash!Don’t try it!If someone sends you this picture, please ignore it. pic.twitter.com/rVbozJdhkL

In case you’re wondering how this is happening, several Reddit and Twitter users say it has something to do with the image’s color profile. The image uses Google’s Skia RGB profile, which is the root cause of the crash.

So, this is happening with a Pixel 3 XL with Android 10, but not on a Pixel 4 XL with Android 11. Here’s what’s happening: https://t.co/mXebJzJZ7Y

You can, however, use the image after converting it to sRGB in case you are obsessed with it. Either way, you’re probably better off staying away from random eye-catchy wallpapers found through multiple sources until this issue gets fixed.