[Google Pixel 3 Questions & Answers] JishHD:
I have crawled the internet and XDA and have yet to see anyone else mention an issue I've been having with my Google Fi Pixel 3 since launch. On random occasions, when receiving a notification, whichever app I am currently looking at will either completely restart, or seemingly force-"refresh". I am baffled.

Examples of issues I've had when receiving notifications:

- While playing the game Brawl Stars. The app entirely closes and reboots.

- While viewing Instagram feed. The app refreshes and brings me to the top of the feed as if I'd left the app.

- While browsing in Relay for Reddit. Feed restarts at the top.

- While browsing in Chrome. The webpage crashes and is entirely reloaded.

- While viewing the Recents multitasker. Closes the multitasker entirely and drops me on the homescreen.

At first, I thought perhaps this was a RAM issue. Since it doesn't happen every time I receive a notification, I've thought that perhaps the System UI and/or Pixel Launcher (which controls multitasking now) was getting dumped from memory and forced to reboot. But I honestly have no idea. None of these have been easy for me to reproduce, it just randomly happens when I'm browsing my phone and receive a notification.

My phone:

- Pixel 3 128GB

- Running latest December update (also happened with launch version)

- Using Pixel Launcher

- On Google Fi with an e-SIM

- Have two system user profiles set up (one personal, one work). They both exhibit this behavior.

- I use Developer Options for USB Debugging and not much else (I'm an Android software engineer and use my phone for work)

- I never install sketchy apps and am pretty vigilant about that. Mostly just have work and communication apps, along with a few games and music.

Here's what I've tested:

- The December update. Didn't fix anything. Had marginally better RAM management, but it still happens seemingly as frequently.

- Changing launchers. Used Action Launcher, and still had the same issues.

- Disabling "heads-up" notifications system-wide w/ ADB (which I originally thought was the issue). Still happens when a notification is received, even if just silently added to the notification tray.

- Disabling Notification Access to all non-system/important applications. Thought it was an errant app being triggered. Changed nothing.

- Checked the Notification Log system settings for any strangeness in received notifications. Couldn't find anything obviously out of place.

Potentially related issues that I'm not sure about:

- System UI will very rarely completely crash (randomly) and boot me back to the lock screen with no explanation. Only happened a handful of times.

- The Recents multitasker can sometimes become glitchy when using gestures. Every so often, triggering it causes the whole multitasker to flash several times before it displays correctly. Like it's being rebooted from memory (a theme here...).

I'm getting desperate. I've been a big Nexus fan since the Nexus 4 was my first Android phone. I had the OG Pixel 1 and had none of these problems whatsoever (by far the most solid phone I've ever owned until the battery crapped out). I was hoping the December update would fix this, but this is plainly unacceptable for a phone I spent $900 on. I really don't want to hard reset the phone if I don't have to (since I'd have to set up all my work and personal profiles again...) but if it's the only option then I'll do it!

Does anyone here have any thoughts?

(Ha, ignore my signature. I haven't posted here in a while xD)