Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Many Pixel owners have complained about Microsoft Office apps not functioning properly on their devices.
- The issue particularly affects those running Android 16 QPR3 beta.
- While Google has acknowledged the issue and claimed to fix it with the latest beta last week, the issue still persists.
Update, January 20, 2026 (11:35 PM ET): Recent comments on the Issue Tracker indicate signing up for a beta version of Microsoft Intune on the Play Store helped them circumvent the issue.
You can try it and see if that rectifies the issue for you. If that doesn’t work, you can try by signing up for a beta of the Microsoft Intune Company Portal app.
Original article, January 20, 2026 (08:09 AM ET): When Google pushed out the Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 update for Pixel 6 and newer devices last week, it shared a long list of fixes that the update brought. The changelog also mentioned that the issue of Microsoft apps randomly crashing on previous versions was also fixed. Despite this, however, several users have reported that the issues still persist. That could be frustrating, especially as Google endorses Android QPR beta updates — unlike the pre-release betas — fit for regular use.
A large number of reports on the Android beta subreddit, as well as Google’s Issue Tracker, still echo that the bug hasn’t been fixed even after Google claims it has been. The degree to which it affects different people varies, though. For some, only certain Microsoft apps, such as Teams, crash abruptly, while for some others, it’s a larger mix of apps. In addition to Microsoft Office apps, some users also complain about facing issues with the Microsoft Launcher on Android.
One user, bertildator on Reddit, says the apps continue to work on their personal profile but crash when loaded on their work profile. Others, however, contend that apps continue to crash regardless of the profile they’re using.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?
Given the diversity of outcomes and how different people are experiencing it differently, it’s difficult to pin it to a specific issue. Adding to that is the fact that some users, including shinnkuu on Reddit, have been able to use Microsoft apps on the latest Android 16 beta without an issue.
Notably, when Google mentioned fixing the issue, it specifically stated the issues related to Microsoft Intune were fixed. Intune is Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure for managing enterprise-owned devices, including phones, tablets, and laptops. There is a tiny possibility that while patching the issue for devices configured with Intune, it overlooks the general population with similar issues.
Interestingly, one user claims they were able to fix the issue by enabling Android System WebView (which was previously disabled) on their device, though we couldn’t immediately verify it.
While Google has recognized the issue, there hasn’t been an update on the most active Issue Tracker threads for this issue in the past few weeks. We’re unsure how long it would take for Google to patch it, but we hope it doesn’t take too long.
A more immediate solution can be to switch back to the table version of Android 16. While that would thankfully no longer result in data loss, you may have to contact your device administrator for permissions.
Thanks, Himanshu Arora, for the tip!
Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.
