Google Messages Bug Resurfaces Old Texts and Sends Them to Wrong Contacts
This risks exposing verification codes and private photos to unintended recipients during Google's investigation.
Overview
- Users report that Google Messages is randomly inserting past messages, images and group texts into new conversations and sometimes sending them to the wrong people.
- Reports come from multiple device families, including Pixel and Samsung phones, which suggests the problem is tied to the app rather than a single phone model.
- Affected users say the resurfaced content can include months- or years-old chats and time‑sensitive items like verification codes, creating clear privacy and security risks.
- Common fixes such as clearing cache, reinstalling the app, toggling RCS or restarting phones have largely failed and some users report a factory reset without restoring backups stopped the behavior at the cost of data loss.
- Google has not published a public fix but Help Community representatives confirmed they collected screenshots and diagnostics and escalated the issue to engineering, and users are advised to check message fields and avoid sending sensitive content until a patch arrives.