It’s the stuff of smartphone nightmares: an old text, pulled from another conversation being randomly pinged to a different person alongside a new text. Yet it’s been happening to Android users via a Google Messages bug that the company is now getting around to fixing.
Plenty of us have made that mistake where we accidentally send a text to the wrong person, perhaps while thinking about that person or simply tapping the wrong window. The best we can hope for is that it’s innocent enough and we can say sorry and move on with the day. At worst, the consequences could be life-altering. But at least that’s human error, and not tech going rogue.
One user on Reddit wrote: “The app itself is digging up these old sent messages I’ve sent or been sent and is resending them when I send new people texts. I’ve genuinely been having a panic attack over this for the last half hour because it’s every single thread, and it’s happening with or without RCS on… Someone please tell me you know something. Genuinely, because my private messages are being sent to my boss without me wanting to!”
The bug has been the subject of widespread reports in recent weeks and last week Google acknowledged its existence. In a statement (via Android Authority) Google said: “We’re currently rolling out a fix that will reach everyone over the coming weeks. Please ensure you stay up to date with the most recent version of Google Messages.”
The company hinted that the cause of the bug is the process of setting up a new phone and transferring old messages. Meanwhile, Droid-Life and users on Reddit say the issue is continuing to blight Android users using both the SMS and RCS standards.
“As an example, one user showed proof that they had sent a message to an asphalt company and it included a vulgar message they had sent their wife at least a year ago. Again, a random old message to a different recipient included with their message to a completely different person.” – Droid-Life
That’s particularly terrifying and would be enough for me to swear off using Google Messages until I was certain the bug had been cleared-up.
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