"Ghost" messages after updating to iOS 26.2.1

[chris4565]

Hey everyone,

I just had a really weird bug. I updated my iPhone 17 Pro Max to iOS 26.2.1 and everything went normal at first.

• Then I manually restarted my iPhone (I always do that after an update) ==> Immediately after the restart (while I was still at the lock screen), 2 messages from my mom came in:
  • One showed her phone number as the sender
  • The other one showed her name as the sender
  • No message content was shown (if I remember correctly, it just said "1 message" or something like that)
• The thing is: My mom did NOT send any messages and I also do NOT see any new messages in the Messages app.
• I restarted another time because I was curious ==> AGAIN, I received a message immediately after the restart:
  • This time, it was just 1 message (showed her number as the sender)
• I restarted a third time ==> Now everything is normal.

Again, no messages have been sent during this time and I also don't have any new messages in the Messages app. My mom did update her devices (iPhone and iPad) during this time but I still can't figure out what was the cause of this. Anyone else also had this? Thanks.