Weird Gmail Autocomplete Bug Results In Emails Being Sent To Wrong Email IDs
Are you a frequent Gmail user using the service to send and receive important emails? If yes, you might certainly want to check out the address field of the emails you are trying to send before you hit the all-important “send” button. Why? Because according to a Business Insider report, people all over the world are complaining about a weird bug with Gmail autocomplete (the thing that prompts the most frequently used email addresses as you type in the text) that is suggesting Gmail users the wrong email address as they type in the address field.
In its usual form, Gmail autocomplete prompts up the most frequently used addresses stored in your contact list — as you type in their name into the address field. However, with this new bug, Gmail seems to be prompting other, less frequently used addresses into the field. Many Gmail power users have become so used to the habit that they have stopped checking the addresses they have entered at all. For the same reason, many of them have ended up in tricky situations since a lot of their emails ended up in the inbox of the wrong person — as confirmed by Techcrunch.
The fact that there was something wrong with Gmail autocomplete became evident after lots of tweets and Facebook status updates were being posted about the rather weird autocomplete bug. In fact Twitter was rife with updates from people who faced the gmail autocomplete issue.
Gmail autocomplete fails today? It’s serving up least used rather than most used as suggestions. Already emailed the wrong people twice.
— Chloe Albanesius (@ChloeAlbanesius) February 23, 2015
Gmail address autocomplete is totally whacked out. I keep emailing the wrong Amanda when I want to email my assistant! How to fix?!?
— Ann Miura-Ko (@annimaniac) February 23, 2015
Hey @gmail PLEASE fix autocomplete for email addresses ASAP. This is causing so much inefficiency and errors when composing emails to ppl.
— Josh Kelley (@ImSeekingOrion) February 23, 2015
It is unclear as to what has caused the usually very trustworthy Gmail autocomplete to start acting up. Google has confirmed that the bug exists and that it is looking into it. Until the time they send a confirmation saying that the bug has been fixed, it would be a great idea to double check the address that Gmail autocomplete prompts you. You know, there are some e-mails you definitely do not want others to see.
The Gmail autocomplete bug seems to be affecting only some users. In case you have experienced the autocomplete bug, do let us know in the comments section below.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
