Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Something strange is happening with text messages in the US right now. Overnight, a multitude of people received text messages that appear to have originally been sent on or around Valentine’s Day 2019. These people never received the text messages in the first place; the people who sent the messages had no idea that they had never been received, and they did nothing to attempt to resend them overnight.
It’s unclear right now what the problem is. Delayed messages seem to have been sent from and received by both iPhones and Android phones, and the messages seem to have been sent and received across all major carriers in the US. Many of the complaints involve T-Mobile or Sprint, although AT&T and Verizon have been mentioned as well. People using regional carriers, carriers in Canada, and even Google Voice also seem to have experienced delays. Figuring out which (if any) carrier is at fault is tricky because it’s not clear whether the sending or receiving carrier is responsible for the error.
Dozens of people have tweeted about receiving messages overnight. Most expressed confusion or spoke to the awkwardness of the situation, having been told by friends that they sent a mysterious early-morning text message. A few spoke to much more distressing repercussions of this error: one person said they received a message from an ex-boyfriend who had died; another received messages from a best friend who is now dead.
“It was a punch in the gut. Honestly I thought I was dreaming and for a second I thought she was still here,” said one person, who goes by KuribHoe on Twitter, who received the message from their best friend who had died. “The last few months haven’t been easy and just when I thought I was getting some type of closure this just ripped open a new hole.”
Another person said a text message that she in February was received at 5AM by someone who is now her ex-boyfriend. The result was “a lot of confusion,” said Jamie. But she said that “it was actually kinda nice that it opened up a short conversation.”
In a tweet, a Sprint customer service rep said “the message issue was identified and resolved” in response to a subscriber’s complaint. But more information hasn’t been provided.
The Verge has reached out to T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T for comment.