Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The latest Google Messages update introduced a new bug that’s making contact photos disappear.
- The issue appears to only affect some beta users and is not widespread.
- Affected users are still seeing contact photos in the Contacts app, and it briefly shows when tapping a conversation, but then defaults back to the monogram.
If you’re running the beta version of Google Messages, you might have observed something strange. Don’t worry — you’re not going crazy. There appears to be a bug in the latest update that is causing contact photos to not show up in chat threads.
The issue was brought up by Reddit user Typicalg123 in r/GoogleMessages. Though users can still view their contact photos in the Contacts app, it looks like the images only briefly show when you tap a conversation before defaulting back to the original monogram. From the Reddit discussion, another user, u/Jmerse, states that the bug only seems to affect contacts who use an iPhone.
Again, this issue seems to only affect certain users and applies to Google Pixel and Samsung devices. The common factor appears to be the Google Messages beta. However, it isn’t a widespread issue affecting everyone, just some, as Tech-Issues Today was unable to replicate the problem themselves, even while running the beta.
We don’t know if Google knows about this bug yet. But if this problem is affecting your device, you could try clearing the cache or even performing a full uninstall and then reinstalling Google Messages. If that doesn’t work, then leaving the beta program and going back to a stable public build might fix it. Just remember to back up your messages before troubleshooting if you care about chat history.
We saw a “Delete for Everyone” feature that also recently started to roll out to beta users. This vanishing contact photo bug might be an unintended result of that feature, given the timing, or it might not be. You do have to admit that the timing is a bit of a coincidence, though, and it’s not uncommon for a new bug to show itself when there’s a new feature. That’s just the name of the game when it comes to software development.
If you’re experiencing this issue, unfortunately, you’ll have to try one of the fixes we mentioned above or just wait it out. Since this bug is only affecting a small subset of users and Google might not be aware of it yet, there is no telling when there will be an update to patch this.
