Overview
- Users first reported the behavior in late August when old messages began appearing inside new threads and some of those stray items were actually delivered to other people.
- Reports show the glitch on both Pixel and Samsung phones which suggests the fault lies in the Google Messages app or its service rather than a single device.
- Resurfaced content can include months- or years-old texts, photos, group messages and two-factor verification codes, creating clear privacy and security risks for users.
- Common fixes such as clearing cache, restarting phones, toggling RCS settings and reinstalling the app have usually failed while a full factory reset without restoring message backups reportedly stopped the issue for some users but carries data-loss risk.
- Google Help Community representatives have acknowledged user reports and said screenshots and diagnostics were escalated to engineering but the company has not issued a public statement or released a patch yet so users are urged to inspect message fields carefully before sending.