It’s been more than a year since we first saw complaints on support forums and reddit threads that their Google Messages app seems to be deleting random messages. Users have been complaining about several glitches within the app, which has led to some just ditching the app altogether. Sadly, until now, Google has not been able to explain this and also to roll out an update that will fix this problem, even as they continue to test out new things on the app.
Android Authority says that there are a lot of users complaining that their texts on Google Messages are disappearing randomly. Some have also reported glitched text messages, incorrectly labeled messages, app crashing randomly and afterwards, losing all text messages. The thread in the support forum actually goes back to January 2019 and a year later, there are still a lot of users complaining about similar issues.
Since Google isn’t responding, there are a lot of suggestions in the forums on what users can do. This includes a factory reset, data restore, using a different text app, uninstalling then re-installing the Messages app, clearing the app cache, etc. Some have worked for some users but each suggested solution has varying chance of success. And of course, the “drastic” ones like factory reset are very inconvenient so some will not even try it.
The issues don’t seem to be specific to an OEM or a device. While most of the complaints are from owners of the Moto G7 series, there are also other affected smartphones like HTC One, Huawei P20 series, LG G8s, Moto G5 Plus, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 3. So obviously the bug isn’t limited to just one device so an app update is probably needed to fix this problem.
Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from Google about this yet and so you will either have to just grin and bear it. Or just ditch Google Messages altogether and use your device’s default messaging app.
