Repeating / duplicate incoming text messages

[aristontyler]

I have solved this in a different way. I went into app settings, like suggested in a previous comment. I noticed that I have Lookout Security installed - evidently a free perk from either T-Mobile or HTC. It occurred to me that this anti-virus program may be scanning texts after I already received them, and then sending them through after the scan, sometimes two or three more times.

If you have an anti-virus or security type thing installed, uninstall it or go to app settings and disable it and see if that helps. It cleared mine right up. Stay away from shady apps, though.

I have the HTC One S, by the way (T-Mobile).

 

[picklesandmayo]

I have solved this in a different way. I went into app settings, like suggested in a previous comment. I noticed that I have Lookout Security installed - evidently a free perk from either T-Mobile or HTC. It occurred to me that this anti-virus program may be scanning texts after I already received them, and then sending them through after the scan, sometimes two or three more times.

If you have an anti-virus or security type thing installed, uninstall it or go to app settings and disable it and see if that helps. It cleared mine right up. Stay away from shady apps, though.

I have the HTC One S, by the way (T-Mobile).

Huh... interesting. I'll have to try that, I've had this issue for like a year now, but usually only got like 2 or 3 copies of a message. I just got 14 copies of one and will try removing Lookout. HOX+

EDIT: looks like that fixed it.

 

[619alejandro]

The duplicate text messages was finally fixed!

I have never used the hangouts app even though it is installed on my cellphone.
I only use the default text messaging default app that comes with the phone.

however I cleared the cache from the "google hangouts" app and restarted the phone. I have not received duplicate texts ever since.

 

[GoDonkeys]

I've been having the same problem on my HTC One X with AT&T and it doesn't seem to be tower based since it happens at my work in Tucson and at home and when I was in Albuquerque earlier this week.

UPDATE:
After killing all running services and clearing the cache of all my apps I didn't get any duplicate message for a couple of days, but then this morning, I received a duplicate from my wife. I just have to figure out what I have activated since.

 

[cenapsys]

I've not been receiving multiples (Droid Ultra - Verizon) but one recipient of my sms's has (Samsung Note 3 - Verizon.) I'm assuming both phones are using Verizon's latest OS for the particular phone. Only began occurring this year and after I upgraded to the latest version of Handcent (should not have) and since, have replaced it with GO SMS Pro. Multiples have continued, but only occasionally and only when I include a photo??? ...and only to this one particular recipient??? Cannot figure out which end is creating the problem.

 

[HellcatM]

If you have an air rave here is sprint air rave support numbe 866-556-7310. I have had this issue and others for going on 11 months and after 10 one of my issues was fixed.

After calling today (so far) I haven't gotten any duplicate texts. here are things to have them do. Expand the coverage of your air rave, but make sure you put your numbers on the whitelist so others can't use it, it only allows 5 phones at a time to connect so you really want to have it just for the household and people you know that visit.

Also turn off 4G when you're at home, the last tech I talked to said having 4G on might be an issue because the phone is constantly looking for that 4G signal and since the Air Rave does 3G if you're going between what little signal you have from a Spring 4G tower and the Air Rave, it could cause repeat texts. Like I said so far my phone hasn't gotten a repeat text, but its only been a few hours. You can download a widget (Unless you have a phone that will allow this) that will allow you to quickly access the cellular connectivity screen.

Something else someone told me it might be the upload speed. I'm with Time Warner and I have 15ms/s down but only 1mb/s up so that upload speed might be whats causing the issue. If I get repeat texts again I may try upgrading my internet to 20mb/s down and 3mb/s up. When I was with AT&T Uverse I had 25mb/s down and 2mb/s up and had no issues (I moved into a Verizon area that doesn't have FiOS). Another option is for your next phone just get one that does WiFi calling, that should fix the issue.

I hope some of my suggestions work. Good luck.

 

[androidfou360]

I've had the same problem, I receive duplicate texts. It is not contact specific and it happens often. I live in Canada. I phoned technical support of my provider and they said I would have to either:

1. Do a system reset
2. Get a new sim card

If there is any other suggestions please let me know

 

[Libdogg04]

I have AT&T service and an LG Nitro phone, and I have the same issue. As a matter of fact, I've just received a 17th duplicate message from my sister that was originally sent on 09/30. She also sent me another one right before that, which I received 11 times; however, I think that one has stopped. Yet for 2 full days now, I've received the same Lol message sometimes 30 seconds apart, sometimes 30 minutes apart.

My phone restarts itself a lot, and a few times I've had problems with being able to send but not receive text messages for several days and then receive 30+ messages all at once. So I have a hate relationship with my phone right now and deciding if I should go with LG again. I've had a couple of LG phones in the past with no issues, so I assumed it was just this phone and didn't call AT&T.

At any rate, I think it's an Android issue as I've had a friend with a Samsung Galaxy say that she received duplicate messages on occasion, although not as many as I receive. So, it's not just your phone or provider, but it stinks that they didn't try to help.

 

[BillyGent]

I have an Moto X on AT&T. This problem started a couple weeks ago. I took the phone into ATT and they gave me a new SIM Card and did a reset. Still happened. They told me it was my phone. OK.. then why are tons of other people on different phone and different networks having this problem? I tried the suggestion about deleting the cache from Google Hangouts and restarting the phone but 5 minutes later it was worse than ever for one friend I tested a text on.

The only thing all of these phones have in common is the towers, I believe. Unless they share the same hardwear. I dunno. The towers is the only thing I can think of.

 

[BillyGent]

I just cleared the cache off all I could and stopped all running apps I could, then restarted. I stopped sending repeat text but still received two repeats.

Will try again just in case I missed an app.
Man this is infuriating!

 

[Charles Evans1]

My android lg from sprint keeps repeating incoming messages.....Why?

Clearing messenger cache seems to work so far........

 

[Ralu C]

Yes, it has happened to me too. It happened in the past, on a Romanian mobile network, but also recently, on a Slovenian mobile network - therefore, different towers...

I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos GT-S6802 with Android Gingerbread 2.3.6 (XXNE2) and I keep receiving the same messages as duplicates again and again in some kind of loop - the numbers are from different carriers [voicemail messages included!]. It has happened before, in a very random way - no repeating pattern, always different senders, but it stopped after 2 or 3 messages so I didn't bother to do anything about it.
But now this thing has gone completely out of control, the messages won't stop, I've been receiving some of them 8 times, some more than 10 and now there was one I received once at every ten minutes [3 messages at 10 minutes interval each and then the fourth comes after precisely 11 minutes and then 10 minutes again] - I got this particular one, which was from my carrier, Telekom [but it was on roaming, Mobitel] for more than 70 [yes, bloody effing seventy!!] times.
I've tried restarting the phone, using just one SIM card, I've scanned my phone with two different antivirus apps, I've already talked to one of the carriers and reported the issue - but I honestly think it's not a network fault, as it happens with BOTH SIM cards and they're from different carriers.
They suddenly stopped at some point, now everything's back to normal, but I want to make sure this never happens again - I've contacted Samsung also, as some developers of Android told me the Android versions used for the Samsung phones are "heavily customised" - so then again, it's different versions of Android. Also, I found some info about the same problem here: community.o2.co.uk/t5/Android-Devices-Samsung-HTC-Sony/Galaxy-S2-receiving-duplicate-SMS-text-messages/m-p/263980#M6141 - can't actually post the link, search this string on Google.

Will keep you posted if I receive any answer to my reports.

 

[Anil Gidwani]

It's that crazy operating system.... you guessed it right...... Android!

 

[Matti Koskinen]

The issue appear to be tower related. Hmm I ended up turning my phone off to flight mode to stop the message repeat. It seem to happened at one certain time, My partner and son send a message at around the same time and both messages constantly repeated on me.
I am trying to find the root cause of the issue but there seem to be no direct answers.
I will read all the answers but it is definitely not related to one brand of phone but androids seem to pick up a lot of errors on the way. I phone seem is 18 month old and is due to be replace any way.Ah well end of another era. NOt much i can do about it.
:-\

 

[Alexphilly69]

i used to always get multiple duplicate messages from the same person. It hasn't happened in a while.

 

[Denise Larson]

I am seeking resolution to the duplicate message phenom as well... Optimus LG Android User. Sooooo annoying!!!

 

[zacuke]

I've got really bad duplicate incoming texts too on HTC One m7. I talked to T-mobile and we tried all the usual things. New sim, factory reset. I've even tried rooting the device and installed various ROMs and kernels. Nothing resolves the problem.

It doesn't make any sense: Why would my phone work perfectly well EXCEPT receiving duplicate texts? The phone is rock solid and when I use my Google voice number I do not get duplicate text messages. That's because those texts are sent over data connection, not the cell tower's SMS system. It's seems asinine to blame my phone and I think they know it's a problem on the network but they won't fix it so people buy new phones more frequently.

Anyway I can tell a lot of other people are frustrated with this similar issue so if I ever resolve it (either new phone or new service) I'll try to provide an update.

Edit 2 weeks later: I switch to Straight Talk and the double texting has gone away. So it was a problem with Tmobile, and they don't want to admit it. They just wanted me to buy a new phone.

 

[Lori Stephenson]

I have an HTC Vivid and I have a text coming in every 20 minutes from Wed the 18th and I have tried everything to get it to stop.
I am an AT&T subscriber. I have restarted it and it downloaded 36 updated, I have turned it off and left it off for a couple hours, but
the text message just come up when I turn it on. Last count it was over 45 messages. I just counted the messages and its up to 82.

 

[MMushy]

Hi.
From Canada and using Wind Mobile network.
Wife's phone has been getting the repeating messages quite frequently. The same message will repeat itself and no new messages will come through. First time, they did a sim swap and it worked, everything was good for a month. Then it happened again, this time they said it could be a tower issue, she was in between towers blah blah blah so this happened. They did a sim swap but it continued, so they played with some settings and it was "fixed". Afew weeks later again, this time I called text support, they "refreshed" the sms code and it was "fixed". I didnt write down the access code to get into the settings to refresh the code and now same ****e again.
Is it a hardware issue, software, network ???
Thinking of getting anew phone but am afraid it will happen again.

BTW, I tried the suggestions above.....no luck.

 

[Al Ackly]

I suspect this is not a very common problem since it does not appear to bring up much by doing a search on the Internet. However, I have experienced this "repeating message" problem quite often. Very frustrating. It doesn't happen all the time.
After reading the replies here, I see that many people solved it by clearing the data/cache/etc on their message app. I don't want to do that because I like to keep some of the messages that have information that I may need to refer to in the future.
I just tried the "delete thread" and that seems to have somewhat worked. By that, I mean it slowed down the repeating (the repeats come every few minutes) but after deleting the thread, it was about every 5 minutes for a couple times and now it has appeared to stop altogether (well, it has been about 12 minutes now and nothing...)