Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Axios
Axios
Technology
Axios

A mysterious wave of text messages swept America's phones this week

Photo: Tim Robberts/Getty Images

If you woke up to a weird text Thursday, you aren't alone: A mysterious wave of messages swept America's phones overnight, delivering puzzling messages from friends, family and the occasional ex, the AP reports.

What happened: Friends who hadn't talked in months were jolted into chatting. The best explanation seems to be that old texts sent in the spring suddenly went through.


What they're saying: Mobile carriers offered unhelpful explanations for the weird-text phenomenon, which appeared to be widespread, at least according to social media.

  • A Sprint spokeswoman said it resulted from a "maintenance update" for messaging platforms at multiple U.S. carriers and would not explain further.
  • T-Mobile called it a "third party vendor issue." Verizon and AT&T did not answer questions.

Go deeper:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.