BlackBerry recently rolled out an over-the-air (OTA) maintenance update to improve the operation of BlackBerry 10 (BB10) smartphones, but it apparently includes a major bug.

While the update aims to improve overall operational functionality for BB10 devices such as the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10, reports have been piling up that a major bug makes SMS messages disappear on some devices.

The bug in question seems to be acting randomly. After the update, users reported that a bug either wipes content from text messages, deletes them altogether, or blocks SMS functionality completely.

N4BB reports that the BlackBerry 10.1 MR update has a big flaw in the SMS application.

"Many users are reporting that after the update, all of their SMS messages disappeared. Others have reported that they can see messages, but when viewing the message thread it shows no history. While others have even reported no SMS functionality at all," reads the report.

"Each user seems to have a different degree of severity in the issue. On my end, the messages were just erased, but SMS functionality still exists," explains N4BB's Lucas Atkins. "However, attempting a restore does not make the pre-existing messages reappear."

The SMS issue seems to be quite widespread, affecting numerous BB10 device owners. All things considered, it may be a good idea to hold off installing the new OTA update until the company comes up with an explanation and a solution for this issue. It remains unclear at this point whether BB10 users who have been affected by this SMS bug will be able to recover their lost text messages in the future.

While this is certainly inconvenient for users, the issue deals yet another blow to the already-ailing BlackBerry. The company placed all its bets on the new BB10 OS and smartphones, but failed to see the success it had hoped for. After disappointing sales of the new BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 devices, problems with the operating system are the last thing it needs. BlackBerry has yet to comment or issue a statement on the matter, let alone release a fix for this bug.