According to Google, random text typed in the Google search app on Android was bringing up a user’s SMS history due a “Language Detection Bug”.
A weird glitch was noticed on the Google app for Android last week, when a Redditor mistyped the name of a band and instead typed ‘the1975..com’ in the search field on the app. The search result displayed the user’s SMS history for some peculiar reason and it was later determined that the same was the case when someone searched for ‘izela viagens’, another case of a user mistyping the name of a Portuguese travel agency.
We tried it too and weirdly enough, the Google app on Android gave us our SMS history in the search results and we, along with the rest of the tech industry, were left scratching our heads as to how this could happen. Now, Google has offered an explanation and blamed it on a mysterious “Language Detection Bug”.
As we already know, the Google Assistant has the ability to read out and respond to a user’s text messages, if it is granted permission for the same by the user. Now, according to an explanation given by Google to BBC, the “Language Detection Bug” was causing the Google app to mistake random text as a request to bring up text messages. So when a user typed 'the1975..com' or ‘izela viagens’, they would see their SMS history because, as per the company, these phrases were “erroneously interpreted as a request to view recent text messages.”
Google further said that the glitch would only occur if a user gave the app permission to read and respond to their messages and will not show up for those who have not given Google these permissions. The company is also in the process of issuing a fix for the same in the next few days, however, it did not go into any details or specifics about the bug or what caused it.
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