My Droid is really pissing me off...

[Eli]

These problems are unacceptable... I'm actually quite appalled, though I don't know if it's Motorola's fault, or Google's.

As seen in this thread, here, when I first got my phone, it kept crashing. Sometimes every 20 minutes, sometimes not for a few hours. I got a replacement.

This is understandable, it happens. The replacement seems to be fine - as far as that goes.

I'm having another problem with my phone that is perhaps even more aggravating than the first, though. Every once in a while, all my SMS and MMS messages are just.. poof, gone. No way to get them back, no way to see messages you hadn't read, nothing. If you search the web, I'm not alone.

I downloaded an app called SMS Backup and Restore, which works well. However, you have to backup manually. I've gotten into the habit of just doing it every few hours. But I'll still lose text messages here and there, and it doesn't backup MMS messages, so those are just gone. Sometimes the messaging app crashes and they're gone, sometimes you just go to open your messages and they're all gone. Sometimes the messaging app crashes and they're all still there. It's really weird.

This is completely, utterly unacceptable. I mean, did I get another defective phone, or what? It should not even be possible for this to happen.. An error or crash should never wipe out your data, it should be stored in a database the moment you receive it. If the app crashes, that's fine - it reloads everything from the database when you re-open it.

What the fuck is going on here? What is wrong with Android? What is wrong with my phone? I haven't been able to find a fix for this, and it happened like 3 times today. Really starting to get old. It takes like 10 minutes to restore all my messages every time it happens...

I had messages on my Blackberry that were 2 years old. I've never had problems like this with any phone. GRRR!

Edit: I should mention that my phone is completely bone-stock. I haven't done anything to it. I'm almost afraid to. If the native programs are this buggy, it would probably brick if I tried to root and ROM it. The phone is amazing, but I am really not impressed with these problems...

Update: Well, it took this long, but the problem still happened with ChompSMS.

Got a new message, checked it.. and it's the only message in my inbox.

*sigh*

 

[gsaldivar]

I haven't had any problems like that on my Incredible... Maybe you do indeed have a bad phone? I would request another replacement, and if the problem persists, have them swap you for a different model.

Good luck!

 

[zerocool84]

I know people that have Droids and don't have that problem and I have never had any of my sms disappear but I have a Moment that has had multiple versions of Android OS. Is this a problem specifically with the Droid???

 

[Eli]

I haven't had any problems like that on my Incredible... Maybe you do indeed have a bad phone? I would request another replacement, and if the problem persists, have them swap you for a different model.

Good luck!

I think I might be SOL on that front. I've had my phone for 2 months now, and I didn't buy it through Verizon...

The first time this happened wasn't until a month in, which was already after the guarantee. It seems like it's been happening more and more the more text messages I have. I'm up to almost 6,000 now and like I said it happened 3 times today.

I probably had 20,000 texts on my Blackberry at any given time... Ridiculous...

 

[Eli]

I know people that have Droids and don't have that problem and I have never had any of my sms disappear but I have a Moment that has had multiple versions of Android OS. Is this a problem specifically with the Droid???

I am not sure.

Here's the running thread on the subject on Google's bug reporting site..

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5669

As you can see, there are a LOT of pissed off people. This really is outrageously unacceptable... I don't know what to do...

 

[gsaldivar]

I think I might be SOL on that front. I've had my phone for 2 months now, and I didn't buy it through Verizon...

The first time this happened wasn't until a month in, which was already after the guarantee. It seems like it's been happening more and more the more text messages I have. I'm up to almost 6,000 now and like I said it happened 3 times today.

I probably had 20,000 texts on my Blackberry at any given time... Ridiculous...

You're under contract I assume? You may be outside of the 30-day return, but surely the phone is still under warranty? I would call Verizon up and explain the issue and ask for their advice. Ideally, you want *them* to offer you a replacement phone. If they don't offer, just tell them that you can get a phone from a different provider and ask if you should do that instead...

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It doesn't hurt to be persistent and keep politely asking for what you want.

EDIT: If it's a known hardware issue, suggest that Verizon swap your phone for a different model. Suggest to them that cannot justify paying ~$2500 over the next 2 years for a phone that simply doesn't work. If they won't get you onto a working phone, then you will pay the ETF and take your business elsewhere. I've had reasonably good luck with situations like these... the key here is to be PERSISTENT and POLITE.

Good luck!

 

[sswingle]

There are a couple free messaging programs in the marketplace you could try.

 

[Eli]

There are a couple free messaging programs in the marketplace you could try.

That seems insane, though. An 3rd party messaging app is going to be more stable than the one the phone comes with? That's crazy. I guess I don't have anything to lose by trying though.. lol

This problem even deletes peoples locked messages. I can almost feel the rage reading through that thread.....

 

[GregGreen]

I haven't had this problem, but I usually delete my messages every so often because I have no need to keep old messages and it gets unruly in there. Maybe I'm just being unreasonable, but I don't really see the issue either.

 

[Phobic9]

There's a couple of third party SMS that I'd use over the stock Android app any day of the week. Look up ChompSMS or Handcent if you care to check them out. I use Chomp personally.

Also, is your phone deleting old messages or just messages in general? There's a setting in the stock messaging app that defaults to "Delete Old Messages" and is set to only hold so many messages before it starts auto deleting. I'd take a look in there first.

 

[Bateluer]

I'm having another problem with my phone that is perhaps even more aggravating than the first, though. Every once in a while, all my SMS and MMS messages are just.. poof, gone. No way to get them back, no way to see messages you hadn't read, nothing. If you search the web, I'm not alone.

I downloaded an app called SMS Backup and Restore, which works well. However, you have to backup manually.

Turn off the option in Messenger to Delete Messages, Delete Old Messages(As limits are reached.)

I use SMS Backup and Restore myself and you can configure to auto backup at specified times in the Settings.

 

[Eli]

There's a couple of third party SMS that I'd use over the stock Android app any day of the week. Look up ChompSMS or Handcent if you care to check them out. I use Chomp personally.

Also, is your phone deleting old messages or just messages in general? There's a setting in the stock messaging app that defaults to "Delete Old Messages" and is set to only hold so many messages before it starts auto deleting. I'd take a look in there first.

lol, that's the first thing I turned off when I got the phone. I hate auto delete settings.

It just happened again. This is the 4th time today I've had to restore my messages.

This time was weird, though. I couldn't even get into the messaging app at all. Every time I tried to open it, it would just crash and force close. I dinked around a bit, made sure everything was closed, etc, but I couldn't get into messaging. Rebooting my phone worked.

I'm pretty sure I don't have any nefarious apps installed. This really sucks...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Another vote for chomp...

 

[Phobic9]

lol, that's the first thing I turned off when I got the phone. I hate auto delete settings.

It just happened again. This is the 4th time today I've had to restore my messages.

Really bizarre. I've had the Droid since day 1 (nevermind the Nexus One, Droid Eris, and the HTC Incredible I had in between) and I've never had the issue of randomly disappearing messages. Hmm...

 

[Glitchny]

I've been using my droid since launch day and I've never had this issue and I abuse my sms app.

I know my sms app is set to delete any texts past 200 in a single thread considering there is no reason I would ever need to track back 200 msgs. Maybe Android is clearing them out based on some system setting or something.

Other than that I have no idea, really shitty though.

Question: Is there a specific reason that you have 6000 texts stored and had 20k on your Blackberry? I'm just trying to figure out a functional purpose for that, do you ever actually go back and read them?

 

[MJinZ]

I think I might be SOL on that front. I've had my phone for 2 months now, and I didn't buy it through Verizon...

The first time this happened wasn't until a month in, which was already after the guarantee. It seems like it's been happening more and more the more text messages I have. I'm up to almost 6,000 now and like I said it happened 3 times today.

I probably had 20,000 texts on my Blackberry at any given time... Ridiculous...

Seems pretty common actually.. for people with thousands of text messages.

 

[Eli]

I've been using my droid since launch day and I've never had this issue and I abuse my sms app.

I know my sms app is set to delete any texts past 200 in a single thread considering there is no reason I would ever need to track back 200 msgs. Maybe Android is clearing them out based on some system setting or something.

Other than that I have no idea, really shitty though.

Question: Is there a specific reason that you have 6000 texts stored and had 20k on your Blackberry? I'm just trying to figure out a functional purpose for that, do you ever actually go back and read them?

It's just nice to have an archive. I can't really explain why it's so infuriating, but it is. Maybe its an out of control thing? I should be the one that decides when a message gets deleted.

It's nice to go at least a few back, in case you forget the context of the conversation or something. I would be okay with deleting texts after 200 messages, actually, if that would fix this problem. Having everything disappear is just not okay.

 

[Eli]

Saw this blurb in that thread:

The logs in comment #424 show that the message database was deleted because it was
corrupt. There are many different kinds of bugs that could corrupt a database, but
there appears to be at least one corruption bug in SQLite 3.5.9 (the version used by
Android 2.0/2.1, I believe) itself:

http://www.pubbs.net/201003/sqlite/60719-sqlite-android-database-corruption.html

If that bug is the cause of some or all of the corruptions that are leading to people
losing their text messages, then, since it could affect any SQLite database, not just
the text message database, then it could also be the cause of the corporate email
settings deletion bug (http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4866), and
probably many others. The solution would be to upgrade the version of SQLite used by
Android to one in which the bug had been fixed.

Of course, I can only say that that looks like a possible explanation. I don't know
for sure whether it's the cause of all, some, or none of the text message (and
corporate email settings) deletions.

And this:

This is a follow-on to comment 451. If I'm interpreting the contents of the Android
2.2 SDK correctly, then the SQLite packaged with Android is being upgraded to version
3.6.22 in Android 2.2. I think that the SQLite database corruption bug linked in
comment 451 has been fixed in Android 2.2. So _if_ that's what's causing the text
message database corruption and deletion, then this bug will probably be fixed in
Android 2.2.

Of course, there might be more than one bug causing database corruptions.

I guess we can hope...

Why are some people experiencing this while others aren't, is my question though...

 

[Kadarin]

Had my Droid since December, and I have experienced no such issues.

 

[Spoooon]

No issues here, have had mine since November.

Maybe it's time to root and try reflashing the ROM?

 

[boomhower]

Give Handcent a try. Yes, I understand your frustration with the stock program giving you issues but Handcent is a way better program than the stock messenging app. Just from a usability standpoint it works better, plus it looks better, and is more customizable. Try it, you won't be sorry. Heck, I don't know anyone that still uses the stock app. Everyone uses either Handcent or Chomp.

 

[hanoverphist]

I haven't had this problem, but I usually delete my messages every so often because I have no need to keep old messages and it gets unruly in there. Maybe I'm just being unreasonable, but I don't really see the issue either.

once i saw how much memory having 11000 texts used i started keeping it trimmed down. it also kept me from using the ms cloud back up services due to too many "items", which i thought was weird. why would you ever need 20k text messages saved to your phone? forward them to your email and print them to pdf if they are really important.

i havent had any issues with any of the droids the managers here use so far, their texts are always there. i do bug them about clearing the memory once in a while tho. actually, since we moved them to droids the complaint levels have significantly dropped from when they were on dumbphones.

 

[vshah]

AFAIK 3rd party sms apps still use the same database for messages so you may experience the same issues if it is DB related. i've had up to 1000 on my g1 and n1 without any problems...i use txtract pro to back them up before I delete.

 

[Eli]

Hmm.. I'm trying Chomp, but I think it uses the same database, since all my texts were already there. I was expecting to have to start over.

I suppose this makes sense, and is okay, but I have a feeling I'm still going to lose all of them when it does whatever it does.

 

[LikeLinus]

Why are some people experiencing this while others aren't, is my question though...

My best guess is the shear amount of txt messages you are saving. Over 6,000? Wow. I think I've hit around 400-500 talking to someone all day, but I delete my messages every day. So it sounds like there is something going on that when you have a large number of txt msgs it is causing DB problems and deleting/corrupting them.