It’s not uncommon for Apple’s iOS software to ship with a few pesky bugs, but in iOS 14, there appears to a fairly big and rather annoying one: users are reporting that they aren’t receiving notifications when some new messages arrive, meaning potentially important texts are being missed.
Those affected by the bug have explained that when some new SMS texts or iMessages arrive on their device, they aren’t receiving a pop-up, banner, or badge notification for the new message. Instead, the text sneaks into the Messages app with no alert whatsoever. More frustratingly, the bug only affects some messages some of the time, making it particularly easy to miss a new text – unless you’re being vigilant.
According to The Verge, the issue is affecting owners of Apple’s newest iPhones – the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max – but also older devices, too. This is good news though, indicating that the problem is software-based and could be fixed in a future iOS patch.
While some iPhone owners have tried coming up with their own short-term solutions, no definitive fix has been uncovered. Some users claim that notifications begin to behave if they force-close the Messages app each time after sending a text, and other potential workarounds have been shared online. However, it’s likely that the issue will remain with us until Apple issues a software update to iOS 14.
Problematically, those running the second public beta of Apple’s next software update – iOS 14.3 – claim that the bug appears to remain. Here’s hoping that as more users share their experience of the problem, Apple is able to incorporate a fix within the update before rolling it out in the near future.