Silent Download message & suspicious animated gifs

[bulgin]

This has been happening before. The phone "stutters" which means it slows down, keys do not respond for a while, then I momentarily see a message "Silent download" which disappears quickly. Shortly after when I receive text messages from *some* people, animated gifs are included in their messaging which they say they did not sent.

See attached screenshot. In the below message the little gifs are animated and they usually appear after the text from the person texting me. . .

I can't find an app or service on my phone which has such function and the senders do not have as well. I know there are some apps that add animated gifs to Androids, but I can't find such an app on my phone. Any help much appreciated,

 

[Sajo]

Welcome to the Forum! [emoji106]. The emojis in your screenshot are not downloaded. Those are part of the Android Messages app "quick reply" functionality. Messages "reads" the message that was sent and offers emojis that Assistant feels might be a good response.

Example: if someone texts me and says "hey, want to get a sandwich at lunch?" the Messages app will probably show me emojis related to food or sandwiches.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Sajo]

Here is a screenshot of the Messages app - Settings. Google calls those Suggested Stickers.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[bulgin]

That answers that question - thank you very much. I'm still concerned over the "silent download" message flashing on the screen during the sms activity, though. . .

 

[Sajo]

I'm pretty sure that's your phone downloading MMS messages from your carrier (Verizon I assume...based on your screenshot). I see that message every once in a while if someone sends me a MMS text. MMS texts require a data connection vs SMS messages. I think that's just your phones text app syncing with your carrier.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk