A scenic sunset picture is causing several Android phones to crash. Here’s why

The colour mode chosen during the export of the picture was not supported by some of the Android and Google pixel phones- which caused the phones to fail. (Picture credit: Gaurav Agrawal)

Several Android users recently took to social media to report a picture featuring a sunset and green shoreline causing their handsets to crash when used as wallpaper.

Many reported that loading the picture as wallpaper was causing their handset to switch on and off repeatedly until a factory reset was performed – which erases all phone data.

Take a look here:

Android Customers Beware! Setting This Attractive Picture as The Wallpaper Will Render Your Cellphone Ineffective pic.twitter.com/YtB5lYLVH4

— tech news 365 (@technews3651) June 6, 2020

This beautiful image right here can kill your Android phone. DO NOT USE IT AS A WALLPAPER! pic.twitter.com/BZvOpeKiQs

— nemo👻 (@heycatpur) June 4, 2020

Just one pixel of this *cursed* wallpaper crashed android cell phone pic.twitter.com/zJ1foT5rYl

— Sanitized – Loki (@Lokioddin0x) June 7, 2020

Never try this photo on your wallpaper..
Seriously, I am not joking…🙄🙄🙄
If you are an android user this one wallpaper can crash your device…
Don’t try it… @pikachu pic.twitter.com/ZGxfOFUcMe

— Gaurov Saha (@GaurovSaha1) June 4, 2020

The way this photo crashes androids if you set it as your wallpaper 💀 pic.twitter.com/xNli1CiqBG

— mat✨ (@mariahamystan) June 7, 2020

Setting this photo as your wallpaper is apparently killing phones lol

Specially android phones. pic.twitter.com/QLqN4Y7WQr

— Lorenzo (@HorsemanCrypto) June 10, 2020

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

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 31, 2020

As the picture started making the rounds on the Internet, San Diego-based scientist and amateur photographer, Gaurav Agrawal reached out to BBC.

In an interview, he revealed that he had captured the picture at the St Mary Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana in 2019 during a trip with his wife.

Agrawal said he took the picture with his Nikon camera and later uploaded it on Flickr after editing it on software called Lightroom.

Tech reporters and bug specialists revealed that it was due to ‘colour space’ that phones were crashing.

As per the findings, Lightroom gives a limited number of colour-mode options for exporting the finished result. And the one Agrawal chose for his picture, did not seem to sit well with most Android 10 and Google pixel phones as they did not know how to display the colours properly.

Reacting to the glitch, he told BBC, “I hoped my photograph would have gone ‘viral’ for a good reason, but maybe that’s for another time.”