Strange Google Discover bug leaves you feeling empty inside while checking the news

This certainly won’t affect everyone, but for those of us using the latest Google Search app beta on Android, a bug is causing the Discover feed to go missing in action. As reported by 9to5Google, version 13.47 of the app is causing a white screen (or a black screen if you’re in dark mode) to appear in place of the news articles that usually populate the area after a swipe from left to right.

I’m drawing attention to this bug because I also experienced it earlier this week. Instead of being frustrated by it, I simply went about my day and opened the Google News app. However, it truly is annoying as it continues to sporadically happen seemingly without provocation.

If I open the Google app directly to browse my Collections or account data, everything seems to be operating perfectly, but that darn Discover page that I’ve become all-too dependent on for my daily briefing is leaving me feeling empty inside.

Apparently, there’s a fix coming in a patch sometime this week, but we’ve yet to see Google act to fix it. It’s incredible how depending on who you are, you build your entire set of technology habits around one or two apps or features. Once those break or go missing, you do a double take and pause, asking yourself what you’ll do instead.

I could just go outside and touch grass, but what fun is that? Kyle of 9to5 provides a band-aid for the situation until the tech giant steps in and solves the problem. He states that force quitting and re-launching the Google app from your device settings will allow Discover to appear, but it will go straight back to being a blank page after a little while – bummer. I’d be interested in knowing how many of you this is happening for. Again, this is on the beta version of the app, but if it leaks out and shows for regular users, that would be good to know.