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[Update: Rolling back] Carrier Services update seemingly breaks SMS on some Android devices

If you’ve been encountering SMS issues on your Android device lately, you’re not alone. It seems that an issue between SMS and Google’s Carrier Services app may be causing problems for some users.

Over the past week or so, users on the OnePlus Forums as well as in Play Store reviews for the Carrier Services app are reporting serious problems with SMS texts while the app is installed. For whatever reason, uninstalling the app seems to fix the issue entirely.

Carrier Services recently received an update to version 50. That update started rolling out on December 2, just before the first reports we can find for this issue. While it’s hard to say for certain whether or not there are more factors at play, the timing alone makes the app a strong contender for the guilty party.

Users affected by the issue report that SMS messages are blocked from being sent or being received but uninstalling the Carrier Services app entirely fixes the problem. Our own Dylan Roussel found the issue affecting his OnePlus device and, upon uninstalling the app, the issue was fixed entirely. Apparently, RCS messages through Google Messages are not directly affected by this issue.

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Using the Play Store’s review filters, we can see mainly OnePlus users are affected, but we’ve also confirmed at least a other users are experiencing the problem. The list below will be updated with affected device makers as we find them. Keep in mind, your results may vary as we’re not sure exactly what is causing this problem.

Android devices affected by Carrier Services SMS issue:

  • OnePlus
  • LG
  • Samsung

For obvious reasons, this is one we hope Google can fix sooner rather than later. We’ve reached out to Google for a statement on this issue.


Update 12/10: Our Dylan Roussel spotted on his device today that Google has reverted the Carrier Services v50 update, downgrading users back to v48. The folks over at Android Police have received word from some readers confirming the same.


Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.

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