Forum Discussion
Can't send/receive texts that contain "goo.gl"
Can't send or receive SMS text messages that contain "goo.gl" so any Google short code such as those used by Google Maps & Google Photos to share just won't go thru.
This problem occurs on my Google Nexus 6P and my wife's Google Pixel too.
I can text myself a test message and it sends and receives fine but when I text myself anything that has goo.gl it shows sent but is never received back.
I use T-Mobile Digits so all text messages sent and received can be seen on the Digits website... those texts that contain goo.gl are not showing up. I thought my phone was to blame so I sent text messages out directly from the Digits platform to myself, my wife and a friend containing "goo.gl" and no one received them. I thought maybe Digits was the problem (even though the Pixel is not registered with Digits) so I turned it off under the Multiple Devices section of my Profile and after 3 hours the problem hasn't been resolved.
To be fair, MMS messages that contain "goo.gl" are being sent/received just fine.
Based on my testing it seems that T Mobile is filtering SMS messages that contain "goo.gl". But why and more importantly can this filter be turned off??
I am very frustrated and if this can't be resolved I'll have to find a different carrier, maybe Google Fi.
Please help! Thanks.
¡Hola, @miketx​! This had me stumped a little so I turned to a colleague in the engineering department, and definitely learned a few things. Basically, it seems like your assumption is right. The goo.gl links may be identified by our vendor as spam.
Even though I'm sure you're not attempting to mass market or piggyback on popular short links (like goo.gl or bit.ly) in order to send out spam messages, because spammers poder hide behind links like this (use them to circumvent detection), the system may not be able to distinguish between a good goo.gl and a bad goo.gl and might block them. 😥
We'd hate to see you go, but I understand if this is imperative to your business that it's a big deal. Can you try sending a full URL instead?
Sending a full URL is not an option when using the share button from within Google Maps & Google Photos. The app automatically creates a tiny URL which I cannot modify.
The Google Maps mobile app creates URLs that are in the following format: https://goo.gl/maps/xxxxxxxxxxx.
The Google Photos mobile app creates URLs that are in the following format: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
I understand T-Mobile or your "vendor" wanting to block potentially harmful links hidden within a shortened URL but there's got to be a smarter way to do it because right now it's blocking some very useful sharing features built into mainstream Google/Android apps that are using these same tiny URLs.
Hey there! Any luck with sending a full URL?
¡Hola, @miketx​! This had me stumped a little so I turned to a colleague in the engineering department, and definitely learned a few things. Basically, it seems like your assumption is right. The goo.gl links may be identified by our vendor as spam.
Even though I'm sure you're not attempting to mass market or piggyback on popular short links (like goo.gl or bit.ly) in order to send out spam messages, because spammers poder hide behind links like this (use them to circumvent detection), the system may not be able to distinguish between a good goo.gl and a bad goo.gl and might block them. 😥
We'd hate to see you go, but I understand if this is imperative to your business that it's a big deal. Can you try sending a full URL instead?
