How I received $500 for a bug report to Android.

How I received $500 for a bug report to Android.

On a lazy Saturday afternoon, I was lying on my hostel bed when I stumbled upon a tweet that motivated me to file a bug report for Android. To my surprise, this random act ended up making me $500!

It's Storytime!

The background

I'm a die-hard Google Pixel fan and I own a Pixel 4a. Why? In a nutshell, the stock Android experience and faster updates. Since Pixels get new updates faster, I get to play around with these new features. Plus, I enrolled in the Android beta program because I wanted to get a sneak-peak of beta features. So this brought frequent updates and new experimental features.

The discovery

Since day 1 after enrolling in the beta program, I've seen this pop up on restarting the device :

The feedback form popup.

This is a feedback form for beta features, and initially, I didn't pay much attention to it. However, I soon realized that something was off.

The bug

The feedback form appeared on top of the home screen wallpaper instead of on top of the lock screen wallpaper, as it should have since the phone was just restarted and locked.

For reference, this is my lock screen:

drive.google.com/file/d/1C7yw_d65rhS2qOkn27..

and this is my home screen:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C7_zzY1bHKueDpiX_wBojG4by8VoCZKH/view?usp=sharing

The feedback form popup:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C7yw_d65rhS2qOkn27mqlpYU-6vcUJ1i/view?usp=sharing

See here the feedback form that appeared on top of the home screen wallpaper in a way "surpassed the lock screen".

The bug report

Upon noticing this issue, I expected it would be resolved in upcoming updates since it was a noticeable bug. However, despite several new updates, the issue persisted. It was during this time that I came across this tweet:

After reading this I thought of trying my chance of submitting a bug. I then went to Google's Bug Hunter and started writing my first bug report. I essentially went through some YouTube videos to learn how to write a decent bug report and my first bug report was filed on January 21st, 2023.

The response

On Monday, January 23rd, I filed an internal report for the Android engineering team to investigate. On February 7th, 2023, I received a response that the bug had been rated as low severity( priority p2, severity s2 ). After a few more conversations which spanned a couple of months, on May 2nd, 2023, they decided to award me for the bug report and proof of concept.

Takeaways

  • I've realized that taking action is always better than doing nothing. There are no worst-case scenarios here.

  • Second, observation is very important.

I hope this blog motivates readers to submit bug reports, earn rewards, and contribute to the greater good. DM me if you found it useful.

Share your thoughts and impressions. Thanks for reading until the end :D