IssueTracker

Upgrade was never offered. I was offered directly Android 16. I can't
install Android 16 as I want to leave beta.

<buganizer-system@google.com> schrieb am Do., 27. Feb. 2025, 08:55:

Just want to add, same situation as yours, only it's been happening since December.
After upgrading to stable the issue persists.

This issue is way more widespread than what is respresented here, please review the comments at this page, where users are very detailed in reporting the issues they are experiencing.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=345259e6d424bad3&hl=en&start=80

My personal experiences:

Text being sent to unintended recipient, when responding to an existing conversation(text).  Unintended recipient is NOT someone I have ever sent a text to previously.  The 2 contacts in question do not have any similarities in the digits of their numbers, other than the area code.  

I have 763 messages in  my inbox, 782 in the outbox

Galaxy S 2.1-update 1

EVERY time it has happened to me, the incorrect recipient was not in my address book.  It has, for me, always been an SMS number associated with a FaceBook notification sent via SMS.

I have these same circumstances each time it happens -

- I will be typing a response in thread A, when I get a new text from thread B
 
- I pause mid-sentance in thread A, use the pull down notification bar to switch to thread B
 
- I do not type a response to the new message in thread B, swap back over to thread A and finish the sentance I left off on. I then send that to thread A and it goes to the contact from thread B in error, even though the log clearly shows that the text went to the correct conact in thread A.

This happened to me a few moments ago.  I was texting with my wife.  I received a new SMS notification.  I pulled down the notification bar and clicked on the message.  It was an FB notification that my wife had changed her status.  I went back to the message I was typing to my wife, finished the sentence, and sent it.  My wife then texts me back asking if I meant to send a very personal message to her FB status!  SCARY!!!

Cross posting with my post from the Google Help Forums:

My steps to replicate are as below.
Seems to be pretty consistent that the message sent in step 09 will go to a random contact; in my limited testing, it usually goes to the number involved at steps 05 and 06.


01) Stop Messaging App.
02) Clear Messaging App data
03) Access messaging app, send messages.
04) Establish messages were sent to correct addresses.
05) Send message to a number not in your contacts.
06) Reply from the number not in your contacts (I haven't established if this is a required step yet)
07) Read reply, don't delete thread.
08) Send SMS to your device, from another device that is in your contacts.
09) Reply to SMS.
10) Check message details of your sent message.
11) Repeat steps 08-10 a couple of times.

       
A factor in this, is I think it might only be short numbers that cause this issue.
I'm using my banks automated SMS service (880).

This would explain why it happens when people have facebook/twitter SMS notifications enabled.

I'll debug it all properly on the weekend when I have some time.

[Comment deleted]

This issue is listed as "Priority-Medium", I think this is totally wrong. For a phone send messages to the wrong person may be very harmful to the user as a human. This just means the phone cannot be trusted anymore. How to bump up the priority?

I have experienced this problem a few times. And I do not have facebook or twitter on my phone either. It's actually a relatively new phone (Samsung Vibrant). To list this issue as "medium" is a gross understatement. This is much worse than iphone's drop call problem. And there is no pattern in picking the wrong recipient. I actually think it's an OS lag issue. Last time it happened I caught it before it sent the SMS (because in my SMS window I saw the wrong recipient showing on top, while I was in a thread window with someone else) and I let the phone sit for a few minutes. When I went back to my thread window, the correct recipient name was at the top once again.  

I have had this happen several times. One item I have noticed is that when it is about to happen, the thread currently displayed in the SMS window (while typing) is empty of any history.

This is definitely not a problem with "fat-fingering", nor is this a problem with any other user-caused issues. This is a serious issue that appears to be a problem with the contacts management within Android.

Usually, the message is sent to the correct recipient, but shown in the wrong thread. However, occasionally, it is sent to the wrong recipient...and shown as going to that wrong recipient. Consequently, I never know if it was sent correctly or not.

HTC Evo 4g with Froyo.

Saw this bug last night.

In my case I can confirm:

1.  I had a text message in my Inbox from a short number (c/ref post #9)
2.  The recipient was a normal mobile number but not someone I had texted previously (they had erroneously texted me a week prior)

HTC Desire running Froyo.

This is happening on my new Samsung Galaxy S.  Updated firmware.  This is NOT a user-caused problem.  This should be the NUMBER ONE issue.  This affects so many people.  It's sending texts to the WRONG receipients.  

Priority should be changed to HIGHEST.  I can't believe that it's being taken so lightly.


Here's some interesting commentary from another board:

It seems like there are two interesting artifacts associated with this code.  First, the sEmptyContactList variable is static.  I believe this means it is only initialized once, when the class loads or at its first run through.  Said differently, it will only evaluate to NULL once - the first time this code executes the nested if statement.   That said, the fact that it is a pointer means the some other module could set it back to NULL, but I would imagine (because it is a pointer) that this would only occur if the conversation is deleted.  I don't think Java allows explicit delete / free statements.


Here's what I *think* is going on.  When there is an existing "conversation" (as determined by the Recipient Editor not being open), the code uses that conversation to determine the recipient list for the message.  No problem.  When the Recipient Editor is open, the code assumes that there isn't a recipient list.  In that case, the getRecipient() method returns an empty list that is used to build a new conversation.  But, here's my thoughts of a problem.  The first time through, this code would seem to work fine.   But the second time through, the code would simply return the same pointer as it did the first time through.  (Why?  Because sEmptyContactList is not NULL, but has the previously generated value.)  It's not clear what would happen in that case, but since getRecipeint() would point to the first conversation and not a new one, I would imagine that wouldn't be good.  It would suggest that a new message could get associated with an entirely different conversation (e.g., the first one) rather than being identified as a new conversation.


Also, it looks like there's an assumption that getRecipients will return NULL when the Recipients editor is open.  But, as I've mentioned, I think that only occurs the first time that the code runs after start-up.  Once the class is live, the "static" nature of the variable means that it won't be NULL again.  I'm not sure if this is anything or if I'm barking up the wrong tree.  But I thought I'd throw this out there and see what other people think.  (I would have to analyzes each of the getRecipient() calls to figure out exactly under which conditions, if any, a problem might arise.)


Anyway, here's the code in question:


<pre>
private static ContactList sEmptyContactList;


private ContactList getRecipients() {
// If the recipients editor is visible, the conversation has
// not really officially 'started' yet. Recipients will be set
// on the conversation once it has been saved or sent. In the
// meantime, let anyone who needs the recipient list think it
// is empty rather than giving them a stale one.
if (isRecipientsEditorVisible()) {
if (sEmptyContactList == null) {
sEmptyContactList = new ContactList();
}
return sEmptyContactList;
}
return mConversation.getRecipients();
}
</pre>


Although sEmptyContactList is static, this is the only place in the class where it is used.  So, shouldn't this method either 1) return a new ContactList() pointer everytime the editor is open or 2) if they want to see what is in the editor window, shouldn't they call mRecipientsEditor.constructContactsFromInput() ?  If the latter, then my thinking is that the code should look something like:
<pre>
private ContactList getRecipients() { // If the recipients editor is visible, the conversation has // not really officially 'started' yet. Recipients will be set // on the conversation once it has been saved or sent. In the // meantime, let anyone who needs the recipient list think it // is empty rather than giving them a stale one. if (isRecipientsEditorVisible()) { if (mRecipientsEditor.getRecipientCount() == 0) { return = new ContactList(); } else { return mRecipientsEditor.constructContactsFromInput(); } } return mConversation.getRecipients(); }
</pre>


Thoughts?


P.S.  Sorry if I'm confusing my "pointer" versus "reference" terminology.  I'm was an old-school C++ programmer back in the day. :-)
P.S.  Sorry I can't seem to get the formatting right for the code.  But I hope you get the point.

Follow-up To Possible Problem:


I've read through some of the code and it seems like there is an edge condition that can cause the problem we are seeing.  It happens in this code:  (Sorry about the unformatting).


   @Override
1913     public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
1914         super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
1915
1916         outState.putString("recipients", getRecipients().serialize());
1917
1918         mWorkingMessage.writeStateToBundle(outState);
1919
1920         if (mExitOnSent) {
1921             outState.putBoolean("exit_on_sent", mExitOnSent);
1922         }
1923     }


Generally, in the code a check is made prior to calling getRecipients().  This call is to "isRecipientEditorVisible()".  When this method returns TRUE, then getRecipients() isn't called, which means that the  "==NULL" statement in getRecipients() is not executed.  So, this is fine - since that method is not called.  


However, in this method (above), getRecipients() is called without first checking if "isRecipientsEditorVisible()".  This means that in the case where it is visible we will execute the nested if statements.  The first time through, it would work fine since the variable is initialized to null and, hence, will return a new contactlist.  But the second (and subsequent) time through, because the variable is static, it will already have a non-null value and that already.  And it is the value of this existing contactlist that will be returned rather than a new empty one.  


I am assuming that this OnSaveInstanceState method is an event handler. And I'm not sure what would trigger this event.  But perhaps this is something worth exploring.  

It just happened to me again. However, the text got sent to the correct
recipient (as witnessed by View Report), but it got filed under the
conversation of another contact. Steps I did:

- pull up the messages application
- select conversation with contact A
- tap message field and type text
- tap send
- back in the conversation summary screen, surprised to see that
conversation with contact B is on the top of the list as most recent
- opening the conversation, indeed the text I have just sent is at the end
of the conversation
- tap View Report and the phone number listed is indeed contact A
- text was really sent to contact A's number because I later received a
reply

HTC Desire, latest Froyo

HTH,
Peter

Because the Nexus One forum is going to close soon, the conversation that is going on in that thread will have to be taken elsewhere.  I believe that this posting is an appropriate place to bring it.  So, I'm going to cross post my last message from that forum here, since I think this is where we want the conversation to live from this point forward.  This conversation is specific to the getRecipient() method in ComposeMessageActivity.java:

---------------------------------

@DezignsNZ.   One of my Java experts expressed concern with this code segment after I walked it through with him.  His thought was that the original programmer was trying to be overly efficient and, in the process, perhaps has made a mistake.  Specifically, his understanding seems to align with my line of reasoning.

Basically, the statement:

sEmptyContactsList = new ContactList();

will create the “storage unit” for the sEmptyContactsList object.  This ContactList object is initially empty, which is what we want.   And if sEmptyContactsList wasn’t “static”, I think we would be fine with the getRecipient() method.  But since sEmptyContactsList is static (or, as you've mentioned - a singleton), I think it will lead to a problem.  Using the following scenario, here’s why.  Let’s execute the code:

ContactList recipients = getRecipients();

This is fine.  Let’s assume that isRecipientEditorVisible() is true.  So, the first time through, sEmptyContactsList is NULL because the storage space hasn’t been allocated.  So, the getRecipients() invocation will end with the “return sEmptyContactList” statement after executing the "new" statement.  This is what we want.  And it is the “=” operator that also tells the recipients object that this is the storage space it should also use.  It is my belief that, both recipients and sEmptyContactsList both now represent the exact same storage unit - which is empty.   But, since sEmptyContactList is static, any change made to the recipients object is no different than our using the sEmptyContactsList object.  they both represent the same storage unit.  So, let’s now assume that we say something like:

recipient.addNewContact(“ScratchSF”).

Next, we execute

ContactList recipients = getRecipients();

a second time.  This next time through the code, we will get to the if statement in getRecipients() to see if the editor is present.  Again, let’s assume it is.  Then we will check to see if sEmptyContactsList is NULL.  It is not (the second time through) because it is static.  It has a storage unit assigned to it from the “new” statement the first time through.  So, we drop out of the if statement and go to the point where we execute the “return sEmptyContactsList;” statement.  My belief is that we are actually returning a list that contains “ScratchSF” rather than an empty list (and rather than returning what is actually in the editor window).  I would prefer to have getRecipients return what is in the editor window or NULL, but in this case  I think it could return “ScratchSF” which isn’t what we want.

Clearly this is something I will need to test further.  So, I’ll see if I can configure the SDK on my laptop – perhaps over the weekend – and put this code to the test.  That said, if we assume that my line of reasoning pans out, there are three possible solutions:

1.  Do not make sEmptyContactList static.  If the intent is to return an empty list, there’s no reason to make this variable static.  Yes, the programmer is trying to be efficient, but this code is dependent on user actions – (e.g., isn't executed all that often).  So it really doesn't need this this efficiency for the amount of risk I think it introduces.

2.  Modify the nested if statements as I’ve indicated in a previous post.   That would ensure that we return what is visible in the editor window or it would return an empty list.  And it would remove the risk I believe exists in returning stale data.
 
3.  Clear out the ContactList (e.g., “sEmptyContactsList.clearList()”, assuming a clearList() method exists) before calling “return sEmptyContactList;”  This will guarantee that our list is, in fact, empty.  While it still could mean that in certain cases we could return an empty list when, in fact, there is something in the editor window, it would not lead to the problem we seem to be experiencing.

Since this forum is going to close soon to new posts, perhaps we should take the conversation here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=9392

Thoughts?

This is no question the WORST bug on Android and has been around for a long time now.  It has happened to me at least half a dozen times on three differenct devices using the stock and third party messaging apps.  I've seen it on Eclair and Froyo.  It's a core issue and serious enough to cause users to look for alternative platforms.  How this still has a priority of Medium is beyond me.

Given that the Nexus One forum is going to be archived in a day or two, I want to make sure that some of the more recent posts from that forum are captured here, since I think they are applicable and relevant.  I apologize if my cross-posting offends anyone.  I just want to make sure that we don't lose any information once the other forum goes dark.
------------------------------

@DezignsNZ – Thanks for looking at the code and testing a few things out.  I think your insight is helping further my understanding of what is going on.  While I understand your comment about a new ComposeMessageActivity object being created, I think there is still a situation where the problem occurs.

First, let me explain why I don’t think the problem occurs very often.  One surface, if the problem as a big as I make it sound, we would see the problem just about every time getRecipient() is called when the Recipient Editor Window is open.  We know from our experience that this isn’t the case.  I believe that the reason for this is that prior to most invocations of getRecipient(), a check is first made to confirm that the Editor Window is not active.  Thus the code I suspect as being problematic within the getRecipient() method is never executed.   Here’s an example of such an invocation:

3408                 ContactList recipients = isRecipientsEditorVisible() ?
3409                         mRecipientsEditor.constructContactsFromInput() : getRecipients();

This type of invocation will always execute the

return mConversation.getRecipients();

statement within the getRecipients() method.   However, there are 3 or 4 cases where getRecipients() is called without first checking isRecipientsEditorVisible().  One of those places is within the onSaveInstanceState() method.

1913     public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
1914         super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
1915
1916         outState.putString("recipients", getRecipients().serialize());
1917
1918         mWorkingMessage.writeStateToBundle(outState);
1919
1920         if (mExitOnSent) {
1921             outState.putBoolean("exit_on_sent", mExitOnSent);
1922         }
1923     }
1924

Here’s where things get interesting and why I think the problem can span multiple instances of ComposeMessageActivity.

1.  A call is made to getRecipients() and the editor is open.   Let’s assume it has “ScratchSF” in the window.   The first time through this creates a new sEmptyContactsList object, which gets returned.  This is fine and what we expect

2.  The storage that was just returned is, at some point, given the value  “ScratchSF”.  This means that sEmptyContactsList now has “ScratchSF” in it.  We then send that message and it send normally.

3.  Assume that in the middle of entering a new message, a new event happens (e.g., a new message is received).  I think that this will trigger the  onSaveInstanceState() method on our current message.   Assume that “DezignsNZ” is currently in the Recipient Editor window.

5.  onSaveInstanceState() calls getRecipients().  Since the Editor Window is open,   we will execute the first IF statement.  Since sEmptyContactsList is not NULL, (because it was previously given a value with the new Statement), we will just fall out of the If statement and perform the return.  However, because  sEmptyContactList is static, we are going to return ScratchSF, not NULL and not DezignsNZ, which is currently in the Editor Window.

Here’s where I think things get interesting, because we have essentially saved bad information.

6.  So, if we use either a new ComposeMessageActivtity object or the same object, when we call “inialize()” it will then call “initActivityState()”.  I believe that it is this method that then reads the previously saved information.  If that’s true, then at this point, we have now brought in the wrong information – regardless of it being the same or different ComposeMessageActivity object.  And is it right here where the problem *can* occur.  If we then simply press send *before* we do something that triggers one of the “safe” invocations of getRecipients(), we will send the message to the wrong recipient.  Of course, since the recipient designates the conversation, we could simply associate the message with the wrong conversation at this point.

So, I think there is a very small window within which this error lives.  And I think that’s why we don’t see it a lot.  All of these conditions have to occur in just the right way.

Now, this doesn’t explain the case where a reply to an “existing conversation” (e.g., where the Recipients Editor is not visible) could get sent to the wrong recipient; and perhaps that is what was fixed in June.

Thoughts?

-ScratchSF

---------------------------
@ScratchSF I found something interesting in the Activity documentation.

Note that it is important to save persistent data in onPause() instead of onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) because the later is not part of the lifecycle callbacks, so will not be called in every situation as described in its documentation.

Now, from what I saw in the method tracer, the ComposeMessageActivity was always a new fresh one. Perhaps in some instances, onSaveInstanceState IS being called and it's then reviving a saved one... which is the bad data? Sounds logical.
 I'll do some more digging around with it today :D

As a side note, I also had the issue occur to me again this morning; it sent the message to........ Facebook SMS gateway (SMS shortcode 3223). Which I only reactivated yesterday. I had a rather personal and interesting Facebook status for about 20 mins... doh!

-DezignsNZ

i'm no tech guy so apologies if this short term solution is way off.

would using a third party messaging app circumnavigate this potentially huge flaw in the code? i've just downloaded 'chomp sms' in an effort to regain control of who receives my messages.  i dont know how much input this app has in the messaging process. it certainly stops my galaxy s from converting a message longer than 3 texts into an MMS, which is a nice money saver for me as a idont receive free mms texts with t-mobile in the uk.

apologies again if this is a fruitless avenue to go down

tom
galaxy s, eclair 2.1, tmobile, uk

@toharamas - A 3rd party app may reduce the likelihood of the problem occurring, but does not eliminate it.  Best solution that I've seen to date is to restart any messages you're in the middle of editing if, in the process of making your edits, you new message comes in or something happens that takes focus aways from field you're editing.

Can anyone out there from Google confirm if a fix for this is included in the Gingerbread release?  I am a developer for this platform with about 1,000 enterprise customers but I simply have no more paitence with this nor do my corporate users.  This is not a medium priortiy issue and either someone from Google needs to at least let us know it has some sort of visibility inside of Google and is being addressed, or, I have to take steps to port my app and get my user base on a different phone.  It has to be a phone first guys.  It doesn't matter how many cool apps it has if you can't reliably predict the recipient of an SMS text.  Even the crappiest throw-away phones manage to get that right.

My problem is I am not even getting sms from my frnds and they say they have tried multiple times.

Guys ... brand new HTC EVO ... first-time Androider. This is KILLING me. Android sent a text to a buddy to 3,000 people on Twitter instead. Unacceptable. PLEASE fix this now or I'm off the platform. People have reported this bug for 7 months, I get it 2x in the first week. Forget it.

JG

JG--forget about it.  Its not just that Google hasn't fixed this issue in 7 months, its that they won't even step up and say they are working on it, bump up the priority on this thread, nada.  Why should they care 35 of us have logged in here and complained about SMS going to the wrong recipient?  Android OS is the hottest thing out there, growing in leaps and bounds, so why should they care about a handful of squeaky wheels?  Except its not just 35 of us having this issue.  All you have to do is search the web and you see hundreds of complaints--most to the phone carriers and mfgs ironically.  Who of course in turn tell the user to do a factory reset and if that doesn't take care of it they should try and get in touch with Google.  Good luck.  I'm putting together an article about my lousy experience with this platform as a phone and its lack of support for consumer and business users.  I am shopping the article around to some of the tech editors and periodicals out there.  I want to bring attention to this, not because I paid $200 for a phone that sadly I can't use as a phone, but because I'd like to see Android succeed in spite of Google and perhaps calling attention to this huge flaw in the phone will spur Google's engineers into action.  I am still amazed at all the heat Apple and MS take for even the slightest issue (remember the daylight savings bug on iPhone?) and yet here we have a flaw that makes one of the most used functions on the phone at best unreliable and at worst a privacy nightmare and its barely even registering on the radar.

[Comment deleted]

I saw a new patch went out to Nexus One users earlier today.  All I've been able to find on the net is it included "bug fixes".  Has anyone had any luck confirming whether this includes a fix for this particular issue?

same bug on a htc desire... (france) it happens randomly

I've been in-contact with software engineers at google. This has not been addressed in gingerbread, although it is not for a lack of trying.

They're very interested in fixing this, but can't figure out the problem. I've been feeding them as much info as possible and they are aware of this issue number as well as the old thread on the (now closed) nexus one google help forum.

sounds like a race condition - had my nexus one since about 3 weeks from its release and have just noticed the same problem, though god only knows how long it has been happening. My conversation shows that it was sent to the correct person, though the conversation on the iphone has missing messages. I also occasionally get a message from person X and when i open it, it has actually come from person Y. I am running froyo and am using the default messaging app. I wonder if it is another app in the background interfering.

The best solution I have found is to stop everything when you have an open window and a new text arrives.
Back out of the draft and go back in again.
That is the only scenario where my messages have gone to another person.
Also, delete all conversation threads except those of your closest friends, who you would not mind sending erroneous msgs to.
It is good that I deleted threads of ex girlfriends, etc. Just as a precaution.
Surprised there is still no fix for this annoying problem.

Ok, I have had this problem since the phone was new (Samsung Galaxy S)
Location, Australia. I have run both 2.1, 2.1 upgrade and 2.2 and the issue is not fixed with the upgrade. Like everyone else the problem appears when you have three of four messages in your message inbox, I then go to send a message to person x, and person y gets the message. To google, this is a major issue with your OS as it appears on multiple phones across multiple carriers. I for one want to see a fix for this HUGE issue or I am going to return my phone and ask for a full refund on the grounds of a faulty operating system. I was so excited to go android after having an Iphone for many years, and now I am totally regretting the decision. I want google to post what they are doing about this issue, and I want a date when we can expect it to be resolved please.

This is ridiculous and not what I expect from google. Running 2.2 on Galaxy S Captivate AT&T with same problem. Occurs when having multiple conversations and you bring the notification bar down and try to send a text to someone who just replied to you. This needs to be set to high and be fixed immediately. Terrible

I wonder why this "technical issue" is not well-known by the public? There should be a facebook page about this problem.

There is an FB group but it only has 9 members so far ...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123692817683864

Thank you for the info laymandb! It seems the group will be growing faster now.

I think the only way we are going to get this fixed is to just blast it all over the internet.  That sucks but so does having a smart phone that can't reliably send text messages.  I'm going to post an article I wrote on the issue.  I encourage all of you to resend it and post it any chance you get.

Android Phones Play “Chat-Roulette” With Your Text Messages

I have always been a big fan of Google Android phones.  Sure the user interface may not be as polished as the iPhone.  I admit the Exchange support might not be as tightly integrated as it is on the Blackberry.  But, I’m a geek and I’m willing to put up with some annoyances as a trade-off for speed and flexibility and customization.  And I’m not alone.  Market researchers Canalys and NPD Group both recently published reports stating Android was running on > 40% of all smart phones in the United States.  It would seem Android is destined for dominance.

Except somewhere along the way, Google seems to have forgotten first and foremost Android phones need to be phones.  And that is why I’m seriously considering making the move to Blackberry or Windows Phone 7.  For the last six months now I’ve been dealing with a huge flaw that makes my phone unusable for SMS texting.  From what I’ve been able to tell using analytics provided by Google’s developer site, as many as 77% of Android phone users are at risk of having their text messages sent to a random contact.

That sounds unlikely right?  I mean you pay upwards of $200 for a smart phone, and next to making phone calls, sending SMS text messages is probably the most used feature of the phone.  But it’s true, and if you don’t believe me just type “android SMS wrong contact” into Google’s search engine and see how many hits you get.  It’s astounding.  It’s happening. And Google seems to be ignoring it altogether.

The first time I responded to a text message from recipient A, and it went to recipient B, I just wrote it off to user error.  I was in a hurry.  I fat fingered it.  Who knows, right?  In time though I’ve begun to qualify and quantify this serious bug and disaster waiting to happen.  The worst part is you don’t even know your text message went to the wrong person until you get a call or new message from someone in your contact list asking “what was that last message all about?”

On the sender’s phone, the text message actually shows as sent to the correct recipient, yet I’ve been able to get all three parties with their phones to sit down in one room and verify that in fact the intended recipient did not receive my text, and a random contact did.  I will put up with a lot of minor issues for a cool phone, but having my privacy threatened is not one of them.

What irks me the most is that owners of these phones, me included, have no recourse.  The bug is part of the core operating system, and has been since Android 2.1, (though it seems worse with 2.2).  Phone model doesn’t matter.  Using a third-party SMS application won’t help. Contact your phone carrier and you will be told to do a factory reset then call the phone manufacturer.  Contact the manufacturer and you will be told to do a factory reset then get in touch with your carrier.  This is a flaw with Google’s code so how is it they managed to slip out of the support loop altogether?  

Ah, I think now we have reached the heart of the problem haven’t we?  By making it an open source solution, Google isn’t really accountable.  Or are they?  I guess that depends on you and me.  Google has a vested interest in fixing any flaws that are impacting their continued effort for world smart phone dominance.  If those of us who have made this platform so successful for them draw a line in the sand perhaps someone at Google will take notice.

The issue at hand has been logged in the Google forums for some time now.  Sadly, it’s rated as only having a priority of “medium” and I’ve yet to see anyone from Google comment on the current state.  I would urge any of you who have Android phones to log into the Google forum and star the issue.  The link is here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=9392.  In the mean time, I’m going to continue evaluating some of the new Windows phone offerings.  Just in case Google decides new UI bounce effects on widgets are more important than where my SMS text messages end up.

This issue is really annoying! Multiple updates and still no fix? Come on!

Wow.. always thought this was just me. I have started deleting every text thread and never leave threads open. Let me say wrong texts have gone to wrong people and not pretty. This needs fixing.

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Unbelievable.  This has happened to me 3 times in the last month.  I'm almost terrified to even use SMS now.  I don't know which is worse... that it's happening or that Google is ignoring it.  This is a big enough problem that I'm about to switch phones.  People always ask how the Droid is and I've always told them how great it is.  I can't see doing that anymore.  

Um, just to throw a curveball & extra thought.

I think there is two situations here:

1. SMS is typed & sent to recipient A, shows as sent to A but in details was sent to B.
2. SMS is typed & sent to recipient B, but shows in thread for recipient B, was sent to A.

I have NEVER experienced 1. If I have, no one has replied to tell me.

I have experienced 2 in an odd way. I get a first time text from someone, usual 1st they've sent since I updated my ROM*, I don't reply. Later, normally after texting others, I go to find the original text & it's been attached to a voicemail notification SMS thread! This has happened maybe 5 times to me, not in the past 4 / 5 months and nothing else.

I run Cyanogen's latest stable 6.1 ROM on HTC Magic on Vodafone UK.

Going by these comments, these are all "new" phones, most seem to be Nexus 1's, Desires or Samsung Galaxy S.

Within a month of getting my Nexus One, I experienced SMS messages being sent to random people from my address book multiple times. I quickly installed one of the after-market SMS clients on my phone and carefully watched it for a few weeks. After the problem stopped with the new client, I haven't revisited this issue, but had assumed that it had been fixed.

SMS needs a major overhaul..what are you waiting for?

On 10 occassions my SMS messages send twice to the same recipient. Once at the time I actually send them and then again 3 hour later. This is on my motorola cliq xt with the latest android version available.

This is RIDICULOUS and unacceptable. Google, fix this now. NOW. Before this happens to me and I jump ship.

Have had the wrong SMS thread load when I click on intended SMS thread.  HTC Incredible, Android 2.2

A recurring and extremely frustrating issue. Please address!

Embarassing bug, please put all your effort to fix this

Please fix this

HTC Desire, Froyo 2.2, I have this problem, please fix this! It's a very nasty bug!

This has happened to me before.  Luckily it wasn't a big deal.  I am on a Samsung Epic with pre-release android 2.2 installed

This should be a high priority bug.  The negative media attention makes this revenue impacting.  I personally am now only using SMS on a Nokia handset until this is resolved.  -Ravi Shanghavi

This is absolutely a deal breaker. If one cannot trust his phone to do what it is supposed to do, then what is the point of payind hundreds of dollars for something that only 'might' work right.

This has happened on my Moto Droid (1). Inconvenient but not a travesty.

Happens constantly on my HTC Desire...

Galaxy S Vibrant T-Mobile
similar issues, when i get a text and it appears in the notification bar it sometimes says it is from a different contact than the one that actually sent it, i then open the notification window and it may tell me a completely different contact sent it, still not the right person, i then click on it and 90% of the time it takes me to the correct thread but the other 10% sends me to yet another random persons text thread.

Please fix this google.  This can have a disasterous effect on everyones social life.  

Happens regularly on my Incredible. Unacceptable that this bug has gone unfixed for so long.

Really needs to be fixed and should be a high priority

Please fix this google.

was planing on buying an android phone in 2011 but i think im going to stick with the iphone or get a good old blackberry

Would be great to get this fixed. I really do not want certain texts getting around to people that were not suppose to receive it. It is kind of the reason you select a exact contact to begin with.

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a medium priority defect that could get you fired? Please fix this google!

Been bit by this too. Needs fix before anything else!!!!!!

I'm shocked that an issue like this would be so widespread and dangerous, and be prioritized the way it has been. Six months and counting? Considering the amount of trouble that this is going to be pushing this to each carrier and each model in certification limbo, Google needs to get cracking, because it's going to be another six months to get this thing pushed out to actual devices even if they fixed it today!

I don't type on an existing draft sms and I have NEVER seen this issue... If you have a saved draft, dont type on it. Dump the draft and reply or sms the person you want cleanly (NOT from a draft).

This is a deal breaker for Android!  Should have bought an iPhone after all...

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anyone notice this using google voice?

It is 12/31/2010 and ZDNet, Boy Genius Report, and Phandroid.com (as well as other sites) are now reporting on this very significant bug.  So I thought I'd offer a few summary comments based on the discussion in this thread and in the now closed Nexus One Thread.

Q: Does this affect all versions of Android?
A: I don't know.  But it certainly affects versions 2.1 and 2.2.  This bug is actually several bugs that all manifest themselves similarly.  The 2.2 code is slightly different than the 2.1 code, and reduces the likelihood of the problem.  The you can experience this problem with 2.1 and 2.2.

Q: I haven't experienced this bug on my phone, so am I OK?
A: No.  The conditions have to be "just right" for this bug to show up.  If you are a frequent texter, you have a higher likelihood of experiencing the problem.  But it can occur with anyone.

Q: If I use a 3rd party SMS client, will that make the problem go away?
A: No.  It may reduce the likelihood.  But the problem is in the Android code, not the client code.

Q: How can I prevent or avoid this bug?
A: Until it gets fixed, the best answer is to know that if you are in the middle of typing a text message and something happens that affects what you're doing or puts something in the notification bar (like you receive a text message or you get an e-mail), then stop.  Quit what your doing.  Leave the messaging app and just start all over.

Now that the spotlight is on this bug, I hope Google addresses it and gets a patch out to *ALL* versions of android, not just their upcoming versions.

Happy New Year!

This should not be Medium...

I have a Nexus One, running 2.2.1...I have been having the very same problem. I select a name from my message list, only to have the wrong name selected. This happens all the time. Get it together Google!!! Btw, the holidays are over, and im still feening for my Gingerbread on my Nexus One!!!!

Please fix this ASAP Google!!! We put our trust in you with over 300,000 daily android activations so don't mess with us.

Wish i could provide more technical details but I have experienced this issue on my OG DROID. I don't recall it happening on my Fascinate but it's possible.. Google, please look into this. I can only hope carriers push this fix out ASAP - unless some of the OEMs have alreay squashed it.

Have had this happen multiple times on my Nexus One, while running 2.2, have since updated to 2.2.1, now I only get the random thread when tapping on the correct thread bug, I have yet to text an incorrect contact but have to hop out of these randomly appearing threads to get to my correct thread a good 8-10 times per day.

Come on Google, fix this thing already!

I have experienced this issue on HTC Hero stock 1.6, and 2.1 updates. Including custom 2.1 and 2.2 ROM's.

The issue also appears when you attempt to DELETE a thread from PersonA, it deletes the thread from PersonB (or C, or D...).

This happens on my Nexus One regularly.  Seems to always default to the last visible thread (without scrolling down).  Could it be a touchscreen calibration malfunction or delay?

I have experienced this a couple of times on my HTC EVO 4G running 2.2. I absolutely cannot have this bug! Please fix this ASAP!

This should've been fixed a long time ago. Come on Google.

Issues like this are going to stop me switching over to Android from my current feature phone. What happened to wanting everything to "just work"?

How is this still Medium priority? It's a critical issue that needs to be resolved before any other update / phone is released!

fix

Come on Google  still in ver 2.3 text bugs shame on u

Yea, have had this happen, really sucks. Seriously should be an asap priority.

This is NOT A DEAL BREAKER. If you wait 30 seconds for your contacts to load properly everything is ok.

FIX IT!!!

This has happened to me before. I sent the wrong text to my real estate agent and it was very embarrassing. Come on Google, get this fixed.

Seriously Google, pry your workers away from the free lunch buffet and get this fixed ASAP!

I encounter this issue daily and needs to be escalated to high priority 1A as it is extremely critical for users of your platform not to have this breach in communication/confidentiality. Google, I will not purchase for my organization any android os device until fixed. HTC, Samsung, take note.

I am surprised this is still hasn’t been fixed, I have been complaining about this since the first versions of Android came out on the G1, its been around THAT long.
I have experienced it so much I have adapted a routine where I regularly delete all SMS from the inbox which seems to help because it seems to send to one of the other people in your inbox, so if the inbox is clear for every SMS you send there is no one else to send it to other than the intended recipient.
Its about time Google got off there arses and fixed this.

Get this fixed! Almost sent the wrong person a very embarrassing text message!!

Fix this ASAP! WTF Are you kidding me?!! I'm leaving BB for Android when the evo shift comes out in 9 days. If I wasnt already sold on it and waiting 2 months...this would def be a deal breaker. Now that this is published on BGR and Engadget Google better fix it or my time with Android will be short-lived.

I'm actually in line for an upgrade soon, and I've been looking forward to ditching blackberry for an android phone.  I'm hoping this gets resolved soon, and it should most definitely be high priority.

Fix this please!  This is an issue that really needs to be resolved

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Same here. EVO 2.2

Communicating with the intended person is a basic function of a phone. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

Dear Mr. Andy Rubin,


This is a HUGE disappointment in what is otherwise an incredible platform.  I think I usually catch this when the wrong contact is selected as the recipient, but if a user is distracted in any way, he or she might miss that the message is directed to what is effectively a random recipient.

This bug needs "critical" status ASAP.


Barrett
NYC

Happens to me rarely, say 1 in 2000, so once every two weeks or so. LG Optimus One , no updates installed. Saw this on engadget, fix before the firestorm? much love for android.

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Please fix this ASAP!

Wow here I thought I picked the wrong contact to text last night. After seeing this I`am sure it was`nt my fault. Please fix.

It just happened to me again last night, I replied to a text that a friend had sent and it went to someone totally different. Originally I thought that I had mistakenly hit the worng person to reply to, but now I realize that it's the system! Has to be fixed ASAP.

It would be nice if you could also voice dial contacts in your phone book (Exchange, phone or Google contacts on the phone) with a reliable and easy app. Voice Search does not do it, it always searches the internet for the contact, not the phones contacts! Voice Dialer is useless! Partner with Dragon already!

Google needs to remember that first and foremost this is a "Phone" and needs to execute basic phone functions before solving the worlds problems.

Fixes are good!

Please fix this issue

I just ordered my Nexus S and hope i never run into such isssues. Google please address this ASAP!

Been planning to move to Android from Symbian next February.
If this bug isn't fixed until then, I'll really have no choice but to choose another platform...

while this is an issue, its not reason for some to consider switching phones. I have only had this happen twice on android 2.1, and has not happened to me on 2.2. It has to be something with the way messages are being opened and shut, as well as the size of the cache file. The worst issue i have come across is all of my texts being deleted randomly. Hence why it has something to do with a large amount of data in the cache and it causing addressing issues when consulting the contact list for information.

Hey google please fix this I defend your product in my cell phone sales job against my iphone people but you can't keep this up! Please "don't be evil"and fix immediately! I love your products but I need to be able to communicate effectively.

Yes!!!!Fix!!!!

I see this behavior a couple of times a month.  Up to now thought it was the custom ROM I am running.  I can't believe its been known and unresolved for as long as it has.

Please fix this.

Yeah, guys. I've fallen in love with Android. Absolutely over any other mobile OS ever, and here's this? Jesus H. Crimeny, that's bad. Really, really bad.

I just hope this bug doesn't drive back to Cupcake, or I'm screwed.

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I've had this happen to me only recently, on android build 2.2.0 and 2.2.1 for my original droid on verizon. Two different things happened within the same hour span, and randomly the issue went away after waiting a couple hours, but nothing I seemed to do directly made a difference to fixing the problem.

I clicked on person X's text message thread, instead, it gave me person Y's thread. Texting what I thought now to be person Y on that thread, person X responded saying, "Uh, I don't think you meant to text me". When I backed out, and tapped person X's thread again, this time I got their thread, but now when I texted them person Y responded.

I could've given more specifics, but unfortunately you never fixed the problem where all text message threads randomly delete themselves sometimes.

Google needs to come out and admit these problems so we at least know they're working on a fix.

Yeah never realized this was a bug ...... please Google ... fix

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I have had this issue a number of times.  I will even have my texts sent to random areas of my FaceBook page!!!  Not only is that unacceptable, it's unbelievable!

How can something like text messaging be marked as a 'medium' priority!?

I'm a die hard Android fan.  However, I have a hard time pushing it to my friends when something as MAJOR as this is a KNOWN issue!  This needs to be resolved ASAP!!

We need to have confidence that we are messaging the right person - without this confidence in the reliability of the messaging app... it's useless!

SMS is a core function of a cell phone. This is akin to your conversation being surreptitiously sent to a 3rd party and should be a critical bug to fix.

Wow, I really love android. You have to fix this. This is an unacceptable bug, totally and utterly unacceptable. Not only is this an epic problem for the user, it is opening you up to liability. Fix this now!!!!! Stop whatever else you are doing, and fix this bug.

This makes me very concerned about using my Android phone. When's that iphone coming to Verizon????

please find a resolution for this issue.  I plan to get my first Android device with the droid 2 and I hope this does not occur.

cmon guys fix this asap if love android and I can't make a recommendation to my friends if something this terrible actually happens regularly.

I have been repeatedly embarrassed by this "bug" and one day I won't be so lucky to only be embarrassed.  We take the proper function of our sms's for granted and google should know better than to release a mobile os with a such a serious defect.

Fix this please. Phone gave me a pretty cool mixup when I was texting a couple of ladyfriends, good work Android.

I do not even own an Android (not yet at least) and I'm a victim of this bug - several times I've received messages from friends (on Android) that were not intended for me.

Fix it!!!!!

How has this not been fixed yet?

This has created huge problems for me!

Major Android components must work flawlessly, this is a high priority!

How do I stop email notifications for this topic? I've already unstarred
it...

Needs Immediate Fix.  ASAP

Please fix this .I love Android and would not call this a deal breaker but def a big problem . med really I hope u don't mean that. well u guys are great about fixing things. so do what u do best

I've had this occur on my previous HTC Evo 4G on Sprint, it has happened to me with third party sms apps also such as Handcent SMS.  I went to send an sms to a contact, and it showed in that thread that it sent to that contact, but it actually sent to a different contact and the only way I would have known would have been checking the message details.  After this happened, I feel as if I can never be sure that a message sent to the right contact, and have been constantly checking the message details of almost every sms I send, something I shouldn't have to worry about.  My stepdad also told me this happened to him before on his HTC EVO with the stock android sms app, so I know that the sms app isn't the factor here, it's Android itself.  I've looked everywhere for a supposed "fix" and as it seems, it's still an issue that's awaiting to be corrected.  This is an extremely serious bug, this needs to be corrected asap and should have been fixed months ago.

This has happened to me in the past with an Evo. Not very common but when it strikes it usually isn't at a good time.

And... Google, you can thank Engadget for turning a legitimate bug report ticket into a petition thread. :/

Just happened to me and I nearly averted disaster. This caused a lot of problems.

Please fix. I've caught myself in the wrong sms thread many times, and some of those times I chocked up to fat fingers, but sometimes its not my fault.

This truly is a dealbreaker. Don't be evil, fix it ASAP.

thisused to happen on my old windows mobile 6.5 omnia, it was linked to the myphone app which synced texts, call log and number to the cloud. I now have the same issue on my nexus s... so please fix it

Please fix.

pretty unbelievable that this is 'medium' priority...

Google: This is an unacceptable bug and an even more unacceptable response on your part. You need to do more to fix this.

After reading BGR, my T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant(unlocked and being used on AT&T) was freely able to intercept a text exchange between my friend and his friend.  I do NOT know his friend. I don't know if this is an issue with the same bug people are experiencing but I thought it would be good to share.

Same issue intermittently experienced on Samsung galaxy captivate! get it fixed please!

This has been going on for over a year with my 6 different Android phones I have purchased. Seriously, it's really annoying and you need to get it taken care of.

How is there anything medium about this??? I've had this issue on several different devies and builds.

Never know this serious bug until Engadget announced it, everyone vote this by clicking the star!

Thanks Engadget!

Happens to me all the time. I send a text and is sent to another recipient. Gets me worried that someone else will receive and read the wrong text.

I've had this issue before and its getting old. Such a large issue over looked by google really goes to show what their priorities are. The phones a great phone but if its sending messages to the wrong people there's no way I can continue to trust my phone. Luckily the last two times this happened was with friends and the messages with just standard conversation.

Seriously, at the heart of it all, Android devices are phones (well 99.9% at this stage), right?

So they need to function, unsurprisingly, as phones. Calls and texts. To the right people.


C'mon guys, get it sorted.

This Happens to me all the time on my evo.

Not being able to send my text messages to the person intended is a problem for me and a lot of others.

C' mon Google! Step it up!

It's happened to be a half dozen times already on my 2.2 Nexus One. Seriously annoying and I'm hesitant to add business contacts to my phone for this reason.

Off course Google, do it !

happened to me a couple of times, needs to be fixed asap, pretty embarrassing.

FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT...PLZ

this explains somethings i couldn't figure out before...this has just pushed me to get a new phone...can't use a phone that doesnt work

This is unacceptable, please fix this.

Please fix

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This is a critical issue.  Fix this.  

This happens to me once and awhile. It gets frustrating especially when things that I send to my girlfriend (Cute names etc..) go to my brother or friends. It's very embarrassing. That's among the least of the problems this ridiculous bug could be causing. It could cost friendships, jobs, lives? Just fix the bug, alright?

It's happened to me, please fix this issue.

The pressure from the media (Engadget) will bump this up. Is a valid issue though, so please address

This happened to me on my EVO -- interestingly enough, I was talking to PersonA about PersonB, and PersonB received the txt.  Luckily it was a nice message :)