Google and Apple have not yet made official comments. Users of Google Messages, the primary messaging app on Android smartphones, have started complaining about a nasty problem: GIFs sent to it by iPhone users are arriving in a garbled format. Instead of high-quality animation, Android users receive distorted static images with missing pixels.
Complaints have been coming from Google Pixel, Samsung and other Android phone users for weeks. All “beat” GIFs were submitted by iPhone owners. However, the problem is not seen everywhere and in all users. Similar problems are not observed when switching from Android to Android.
In mid-May, the number of reports about the problem increased, with some starting to complain weeks in advance. It is worth noting that Apple released iOS 17.5 on May 13, 2024, and the crash may be related to this update.