BLU's latest Life One X2 update is bricking phones, users told to wipe their data

Budget phone-maker BLU Products is in hot water with consumers after inadvertently bricking one of its devices via an OTA firmware update. Owners of the Life One X2, an affordable Android handset launched last year, have flooded Reddit after finding that their newly-updated phones are now completely useless.

Users on both the Android and IntoBlu subreddits have noted that the catastrophic bug occurs once the $200 device has rebooted after accepting BLU’s official update. While everything apparently seems okay at first, the phone then asks for the user’s password to finish the update.

The problem? The phone outright refuses to accept the password, effectively locking out any kind of functionality. Unsurprisingly, the fact that such a significant bug made it through to a final update has angered a vast number of Life One X2 owners.

The bad news doesn’t stop there, however. Several Reddit posters mention that they have called the Miami-based company regarding the issue. After waiting in line for a customer service representative, those same users have reportedly been told by BLU that the best solution to their woes is a full factory reset.

This suggestion hasn’t gone down very well, as many of those impacted are (quite rightly) unwilling to delete all of their data to fix the problem. To make matters worse, some Life One X2 users who did decide to follow BLU’s advice are reporting that they are still locked out of their phones.

BLU has yet to release an official statement on the matter, but it is responding to queries on Facebook. In a number of replies to disgruntled Life One X2 users, BLU has said that it is “currently investigating and trying to fix the issue,” and has apologized “for the inconvenience”. One Reddit post also suggests that BLU is working on a remote fix.

For the time being, the best advice seems to be a simple one: If you’re a Life One X2 owner, do not update your device until the issue has been resolved. We’ll keep an eye on this one and update this post when more details emerge.