Google promises fix for Android 4.2 December birthday bug

By Alex Dobie
last updated

Good news for anyone with a birthday or anniversary coming up next month, as Google has confirmed that it has a fix in the works for the recently-discovered "December birthday" bug in Android 4.2. The glitch resulted in December being absent from the date selector in the Android 4.2 People app, as you can see in the shot above.

The fix will most likely take the form of an over-the-air update for devices running Android 4.2 -- the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. No timeframe was provided for the OTA, but with December looming, we'd expect it to hit in a matter of days.

Here's the statement from the official Android Google+ account --

We discovered a bug in the Android 4.2 update, which makes it impossible to enter December events in optional fields of the People app (this bug did not affect Calendar). Rest assured, this will be fixed soon so that those of you with December birthdays and anniversaries won't be forgotten by your friends and family.

Source: +Android

Alex Dobie
Alex Dobie
Executive Editor

Alex was with Android Central for over a decade, producing written and video content for the site, and served as global Executive Editor from 2016 to 2022.

18 Comments
  • Good... Now lets get some more Nexus 4 devices in stock....
  • Definitely an embarrassing bug. But bugs like this will probably emphasis the problems with manufacture's tinkering with Google's code. It could possibly take longer to fix this for some devices if there is any hold up by a manufacture or carrier, and who knows if a manufacture has already begun porting a bug filled 4.2 to their phones and now has to go back to fix this bug that they didn't create.
  • I wouldn't call this a very embarrassing bug, seeing as it didn't affect the calendar. Most people probably don't add events to individual contacts via the People app. Most people probably don't even know how to do so, or that it is an option at all, therefore the average consumer will never know about this issue.
  • You'd be surprised. Most users were adding birthday's to phone contacts before Android was even conceived.
  • The manufacturer in this case didn't tinker with the code, this is Google's doing since it is native JB code.
  • If a manufacture is working on a 4.2 update, when google releases the fix, it will be in there gerrit server. So all the manufacture has to do is apply the patch from gerrit. they dont have to start over.
  • Just got the Nexus 4 today. Got shipping notice at 6:30 PM yesterday and was delivered today at 9:30 AM. Looks like they uprgaded shipping based on the label.
  • Hopefully El Goog will also fix the battery drain and bluetooth issues.
  • I'm not having any different battery drain issues than I did on 4.1.2 - but I have found battery life has gotten a little worse since 4.0.4 - especially on standby. no bluetooth problems either. it occurs to me that google needs to focus a little more on design and development, you won't find a bigger android fanboy than me, but i've not been impressed with 4.2. homescreen widgets are nothing but a nuisance, and i turned them off with the policy editor ASAP. the clock is fugly, and the clock app is a hot mess. where did that red text come from? it seems like they've deviated a little too far from the clean ICS/JB look, and I hope they fix that up with the calendar bug fix
  • A lot more bugs than just the December thing..
  • If this's Apple, they will tell people to skip December and move on. =))
  • I got excited for a moment there when I thought the headline read "Google promises fix for Android 4.2 in December"...
  • I second Stik's post; get more freaking Nexus 4s in stock, dangit.
  • This bug should have been patched 2 days ago! It shouldn't be THAT hard to fix an array bug O.o...
  • They didn't say anything about the N4 though huh? I'm sure if they ignore it it'll go away.
  • They need to fix their shitty lock screen widgets, font, and notification bar while their at it as well. Beta my ass!
  • So, Google will roll out the fix soon, but then the carriers will have to "check" the compatibility of the update. At that point, the repair estimate will be sometime in June.
  • I don't even see the need for the "promise". It goes without saying. Why on EARTH would Google not fix such a significant BUG as NO DECEMBER in the People App??? Duh.