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Android Lollipop might have another serious bug affecting Nexus smartphones

Published Nov 19th, 2014 3:00PM EST
Android 5.0 Lollipop SMS Bug
Image: Google Inc.

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The recently released Android 5.0 Lollipop update is Google’s most important OS upgrade in recent years, bringing users a completely new design language as well as many new features. But it appears that Lollipop also comes with a serious bug that affects some Nexus smartphone owners who already upgraded their devices to Android 5.0.

FROM EARLIER: This is one of the best new features in Android 5.0, and you don’t even know about it

As Business Insider reports, the bug affects SMS functionality on Nexus devices, and appears to have been spotted in the Netherlands first. What happens is that SMS messages sent on the Nexus 5 running Android 5.0 do not reach the recipient, even though they appear to be sent on the sender’s handset.

Users who can’t send SMS messages due to this annoying bug say they can still receive SMS messages from others.

The problem appears to affect certain carriers, including Vodafone and Mobistar, and it has affected at least one Moto X user as well. It’s not clear how many users on Lollipop are impacted by the problem.

Some users say that removing the international country code from a contact’s phone number fixes the issue.

“I am having the same issue,” one user said. “Sent text messages are not being delivered. According to Vodafone NL, they see messages are being sent to an international number starting with 111 (resulting in out of contract costs).”

Another user said he downgraded to KitKat and the problem has disappeared, suggesting it’s caused by Lollipop.

The issue, first posted on Google’s Issue Tracker on November 16th, is yet to be fixed by Google, although it looks like users can try to circumvent the issue by either editing their contacts to remove country codes, or by downgrading to the latest available KitKat version.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.