This suddenly started popping up for me several times last night and now this morning. Everytime it pops up I would tap Deny.
How and why is visual voicemail sending SMS? Is my phone infected with malware or something?
Best answer by srickar
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Hey,
If so, what kind of phone do you have? Are you able to try clearing the cache and data for the VVM app, or uninstalling and reinstalling (if you haven't already)?
+15
Hi there!
Marissa gave a great suggestion that's a common fix for something like this. Can you give that a shot and let us know if that helps? Thanks!
Heyo! I know it's been a few days -- just wanted to follow up and see how troubleshooting was going. Can you let us know if you're still seeing these messages; and if so, which steps you've taken thus far? Thanks! 😀
I've deleted the cache and the data, but the issue still occurred so I did uninstall updates and so far so good.
Hmmm -- good to know! So it seems like one of the recent VVM app updates was the culprit? That's so weird, and I'm sorry -- totally the opposite of what updates are supposed to do! 😜 Do you mind letting me know what type of phone you're using, your software version, and the app version you rolled back to? I'd like to be able to forward this feedback along!
+4
Hi,
@tmo_marissa - I can explain.
VVM action is triggered by a silent SMS that makes VVM app perform a specific action such as retrieve, delete, sync with mailbox server for audio attachments. Sometimes a VVM version is released that tested fine in pre-production but phone device reacts wrong to a VVM silent SMS.
Also, if either client or VVM server side do not respond in time, a repeat ack attempt is sent which can cause repetitive transactions and drain the battery. I would also like to know if device was switched between Apple/Android as they have different VVM sync requirements. There are also multiple VVM servers in which a particular server is reacting incorrectly for the session. Speculation at this point as I don't have full user details which is why a ticket is most important.
I would delete and reinstall latest VVM app. I still recommend submitting a ticket so that trending can be done.
Ahh, thanks as always,
+4
I checked my notes on 4/26. Seems a recent VVM app update went out that caused compatibility issue with a specific group of VM servers, where sync causing repetitive GET requests. Since the GET requests were taking too long, the phone device would send another and it would just repeat and queue. a parameter was identified and adjusted which seems to correlate with what was experienced here. After the adjustment, transactions were back to normal - so installing VVM client again should resume as expected. Thanks.
+4
A new VVM client version T-Mobile Visual Voicemail 5.21.7.80864 will be released via phased rollout which should be done by Thursday.
I've been having the same odd issue, and have been watching this site for some time now, hoping for explanation.. I couldn't find an answer from Tmobile explaining why my visual voicemail is sending text messages, to whom they were sent, and what info they were sending, so I finally uninstalled the app. After going tired of never getting VM notifications, I reinstalled it last week . And was just now informed by my security app that VVM sent an SMS. it's so weird to me that there is not a c quick and satisfaction answer from T Mobile or the developer. Any new info? ? It's not, I guess I'll delete it again. Rather than risk compromising phone security any more than usual.
Just found this on Reddit: "...Because when you get a voicemail our system sends a SMS to your phone that your phone knows to not show that tells your phone to either show a notification that you have a voicemail or if you have visual voicemail to download that vm and give it's own notification so what you are seeing is the visual voicemail app watching for this hidden SMS."
Sounds okay to me.
+4
Oh hey Sparrow414,
Im still with voicemail/messaging engineering team. The VVM client communicates with the visual voicemail servers using push SMS sync messages that are silent. That means they are not displaying to you to read. The messages are in a syntax language that trigger the voicemail client to sync with the server, delete a message, trigger a status tray notification, etc. As for Android warning about VVM using SMS, that's typical warning. The VVM client uses your SMS contacts to display the contact name. It's not malicious action from the VVM client but it does need SMS ability to process the VVM sync status messages.
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