The Members Forum

Android users are fuming over a bug in Google's mobile OS that causes SMS messages to be sent to contacts other than the one chosen, or even to an entirely random contact.

To make matters worse, a bug report on the Android developer's forum shows that Google has been aware of the bug - for some reason rated as medium priority - since late June last year. In their original issue posting, developer d...@rx7.co.nzThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it gives a summary of the problem:

Messaging.
- Send SMS message to RecipientA.
- Message appears to be successfully sent to RecipientA.
- RecipientX receives message.
- 'View Message Details' in RecipientA thread, shows 'To' field as being RecipientX's MSISDN (phone number).

The glitch appears to be impacting at least devices running Android 2.1 (Eclair) and 2.2 (Froyo), with some users claiming the bug still exists in the recently-released Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Model of phone does not appear to make a difference and there appears to be no reliable workaround at this point.

Where the SMS message ends up also appears to be a game of Russian Roulette, with some users reporting their texts ended up with a contact they had previously sent messages to, while others reported messages being sent to contacts they had never been in touch with before.

With the latest statistics from Google showing that some 83 per cent of Android devices are running either version 2.1 or 2.2, the bug could potentially be impacting the majority of Android users.

Furious developers have questioned why Google is seemingly ignoring such a critical flaw, with one accusing the company of forgetting that ''Android phones need to be phones''.

Neowin has the details HERE!