Samsung S9 phone. Image: Roman Arbuzov/Shutterstock
Some Samsung phone owners are reporting their devices randomly sending images and texts to the wrong people.
Both Reddit and the official Samsung forum have been filled with messages from concerned Samsung phone owners who say messages and texts have been ending up in the wrong threads.
Scheduled messages are also reported to have been sent at incorrect times and messages are apparently being displayed as successfully sent when the other party has not received them.
Images sent at random
Gizmodo first reported the issue yesterday (2 July) and even owners of late model devices such as the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S9 were affected. User reports point to the Samsung Messages default texting app on devices, with one Reddit user claiming that their entire photo gallery was sent to a contact in the middle of the night, as opposed to the intended single picture.
“Last night around 2:30am, my phone sent [my girlfriend] my entire photo gallery over text but there was no record of it on my messages app. However, there was record of it [in my] T-Mobile logs.”
Another user said: “Oddly enough, my wife’s phone did that last night, and mine did it the night before. I think it has something to do with the Samsung SMS app being updated from the Galaxy Store. When her phone texted me her gallery, it didn’t show up on her end – and vice versa.”
Samsung responds
What is perhaps most concerning is that the bug apparently leaves no evidence of sending images to the wrong people, which means users may have had their images sent to unintended recipients without their knowledge.
A rep said: “We are aware of the reports regarding this matter and our technical teams are looking into it.” At present, the bug is not linked to any one device.
People originally speculated that the bug involved T-Mobile US and the carrier’s recent RCS messaging update, but the network has placed the blame squarely at Samsung’s door.
At the minute, your best option is to disable Samsung Messages and use another app, such as Google’s Android Messages or an encrypted option such as Signal.
Samsung S9 phone. Image: Roman Arbuzov/Shutterstock
