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Why am I randomly not receiving texts?

  • 8 August 2019
  • 61 replies
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C

A few months ago it came to my attention that I was not receiving certain messages from what seemed like a single person (they showed me their phone proving they in fact had sent me these messages).  Then it happened with another friend. Both these individuals have iPhones and are on T-Mobile. I'm an Android user.

It is seemingly completely random, sometimes even in the middle of a conversation, selective texts sent seconds or minutes apart will not come through.

So far I have tried:

  • Changing to the stock texting app (I normally use Mood)
  • Clearing the text app cache
  • uninstalling and reinstalling Mood
  • changing the SIM
  • T-Mobile advised me to do some kind of reset (which all it did was make me have to put in all my WiFi passwords again)
  • full factory reset
  • Confirmed APN settings
  • Bought another damn phone.

Annoying that I could never figure out wth was happening, but no matter, it seemed like things were working. Well, the problem has returned, and it's very difficult to troubleshoot or know when it's happening because it's not like there's an error message. I don't find out until days or weeks later, and I imagine sometimes never at all. People think I'm just ignoring them.

I have also had issues where texts come in very delayed, I'm talking anywhere from like a half hour to 24 hours later.

These are just regular old sms texts, usually brief ones too, not group chats media etc., if that matters.

Is it possible that that I am momentarily losing service when these messages are being sent and they just kind of disappear into the void? lol

Solutions?

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Best answer by tmo_mike_c 20 August 2019, 18:18

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61 replies

M

I may have figured this out. It seems if I'm connected to my wifi network, the issue comes up. Note that I am not using wifi-calling, I'm simply connected to it for internet at home so I don't use up my data plan. Seems being connected to wifi is what's causing this. I've stayed off my wifi for the past 2 days and I haven't experienced the issue. I never had this issue with TMobile branded phones, so I think this is something that only comes up with non-TMobile branded phones.

M

Happens to my new TMobile Branded Moto G7 Power connected or not connected to wifi.  Spent hours on the phone with tech support with no solution.  It is definitely a network infrastructure problem that no one can figure out.  I have a non TM Moto G7 power that has sometimes has the same issue.  Not as fruequently as the new one.  Only consistent thing is the problem happens with TM to TM txts.

K

I am having this exact same issue and I have yet to hear/find resolution! I’m thinking I may just switch carriers to resolve it. Has anyone else figured out how to prevent the issue?

T

This is not a solved issue. I have been trying to get notifications set up with a vendor. I am on a Samsung S8. I have tried it with wifi off and on and rebooted the phone. I have requested the same notification at least a dozen times over the past two hours, but no message.

My setup has no blocked messages.

I did receive a notification from TM on a different subject.

I have seen this in the past. It seems to be related to specific numbers rather than a general outage.

A

I have been dealing with this problem for MONTHS!!!  And it is driving me absolutely crazy!  My husband had me update my Messages to the Chat thing?  I don’t know.  It wasn’t an option when I first started having issues, but when I reactivated Messages, it automatically updated it.  So I am hoping that worked?  But then I promptly switched back to my other texting app (I had the problem whether I used Messages or my other app).  I’m hoping that by upgrading the Messages to Chat that it adjusted something in the system that will make messages go through.  

W

I've been having the same issue for years on a moto g5 plus. The worst part is that it most consistently misses texts from my wife, often at bad times, causing a couple fights.

She has an iPhone but texts to her father's galaxy always go through. We're all on the same family plan so it's not an inter-carrier thing. 

Location, time of day, and wifi connection don't seem to matter. 

It also misses texts from others and sometimes texts I try to send get stuck in a sending state indefinitely. I've had calls go straight to voicemail with no ring and sometimes no notification, and occasionally an outgoing call will just stay silent, never even attempting to dial out.

Tech support has been involved 2 or 3 times but nothing they do / have me do seems to last very long, if it ever did anything at all. They now claim its a problem with my phone. Have other people had luck switching phones? If so, are there any phones that are known to have similar issues that I should avoid? Are there certain bands that are required for communication stability? I'd hate to spend a bunch of money on a new phone and have the same issues. Honestly, if that happens we may switch carriers. I like tmobile but it's not worth damaging my relationship. 

T
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This one is easy. has done it to some of my android (mostly lg’s) phones.

 

pay attention! but it’s straight forward.

 

turn off wifi.

 

if you do NOT use it, that’s fine, you can get rid of it after.

 

download google messages from the play store. keep wifi off after you download it and install it.

 

install it, accept and permit all necessaries access to your phone.

 

simply go to and enable chat features, it will either ask you or go under settings, in the messages app. accept whatever! let it set up until it says ready to use or chat features are active.

 

should start working almost instantly or within the minute, and texts etc will start going thru.

 

once that happens, TURN ON wifi, so it syncs in the system.

 

that’s it. use the phone like you always have.

 

keep using messages or get rid of it and go back to your phone’s messaging app if you like.

 

I had mine on, but I believe it is irrelevant if you have wifi calling on or off.

 

this little process always and magically corrects this problem. this is a wifi/data configuration thing that needs to be tweaked, corrected, once you got a new phone with the same num or simcard that has been transferred over. even if the phone is defaulted to stock or simply the phone has not been “refreshed” in a while.

 

if you already do use messages, follow the same steps. if it was already on, turn it off and restart the phone, then do the steps from above. :]

 

 

 

 

Be kind to one another.
J

I have been having this same issue for about a month.  I have also tried all the troubleshooting things mentioned, turning phone off, clearing up storage space (I have 20GB of free space).  It doesn’t matter where I am located, home, work, etc..  It seems to happen with any group text where there are both iPhone and non-iPhone users.  The texts missed are never consistent.  Sometimes it’s a text or two in the middle of a conversation, sometimes an image, sometimes entire conversations that last more than a day between other friends and me.  I can be in the same house and our group family chat will send some texts back and forth and I will receive some of the texts but not all of them.  It’s definitely happening more frequently with texts missed every day now.  About a month ago, it came to my attention it was happening, then 3 days later I received about 150 texts in various group texts right after another in the same minute (early on a Saturday morning).  Now I just don’t get the texts ever, or occasionally I’ll get a text a day or two later from someone that makes no sense in the context and that’s when I learn that text is just coming through now but was from days ago in another conversation.  I have been on the phone multiple times with TMobile and then gone to their store to change the SIM card (their suggestion, but even at suggesting they didn’t think that would fix it but had no other ideas on how to fix).  Ultimately, they connected me to Apple support who took down information and sent me an email to communicate questions with them, but that was two weeks ago and they haven’t been in touch with me since despite me emaling them asking to look at this again 3 more times. 

 

Has anyone tried the previous solutions tmbileuser proposed and did it work?  

 

Is anyone certain where the problem originates?  TMobile says to go to Apple, everyone I talk to about it says to get a new phone (I have an iPhone 7+), but why if it’s not the actual phone causing the problem - which I don’t think it is.  

P

I am having the exact same problem as everyone else here with random missed texts. Wi-Fi on Wi-Fi off, from an Android User or an Apple user, the randomness and weirdness of the missing texts either that I send or that are sent to me continues to happen. What is going on here?! Any of us who have a business cannot run a business this way and I'm seeing that T-Mobile has not responded in a way to adequately address this problem which is deeply disappointing because I like TMobile in most other regards but I just can't have people try to contact me, and me them and never know if the messages have been received or sent. it's incredibly frustrating. I hate to say it but it seems that this issue is widespread and won't be resolved until they lose enough business. Come on T-Mobile, we all expect better from you and you're just showing us that you can't or won't fix this problem that is clearly not a one-off or just isolated to Apple.

@

I’ve been having a similar problem where I get no texts (even though people send them), my outgoing texts seem to arrive OK. And then for some unknown reason the incoming messages all show up but don’t show the time they were sent, but the time they arrived on the phone - a Google Pixel XL.

 

I went to the Play Store and it shows that Google Messages is already installed. That makes sense on a Google phone. Am I supposed to uninstall and re-install it?

 

Also, just to be clear, I’m turning WiFi off ON THE PHONE? And assuming the download of Google Messages will happen over LTE?

 

Thanks for your help.

N

I have this same issue and it should be unacceptable! It happened on my previous phone (iPhone X), but did not appear to happen in over a year. Recently purchased an iPhone 12Pro Max and I am missing multiple group chat  messages/conversations and messages from individual people. 
 

The messages I am missing are from both iPhone and Android users. I know I am missing them because people are sending me screenshots of the conversation that verify I am not receiving messages since they don't show up on my end. I have restarted my iPhone, and have ensured that it happens when I am both connected to WiFi and only connected to T-Mobile’s towers. 
 

Has anyone figured out a solution?! I have missed important texts regarding work that I would never know about if coworkers had not sent me screenshots. Also, I missed a text about a family member having a medical issue and having to be sent to the hospital (figured that out by receiving a phone call since I never responded to the text that never appeared on my phone). Who knows what conversations I am actually missing. 
 

I am extremely frustrated and this should not be happening given the amount of money I pay T-Mobile every month.  

C

Hello, I've called TMobile, I've gone into a local store, I've talked on text assist on my device, and no resolution has been given that works. I have a specific friend/number that cannot text me at all, she constantly gets "not delivered" but the funny thing is, she can reply to me if I send a message to her first. She's has to use messenger to deliver a message to me, and shows me a screenshot of the not delivered text. This is a major issue. I've checked blocked, spam, every setting I can, no assistance from TMobile, except for a reply that says, oh we're updating our services with Sprint, try back later. I'm furious, this is ridiculous. My guess is your new Sprint users are working great though. Highly disappointed in TMobile service on this issue! 

S

I have the same problem for quite some time. Tried all the suggestions above. But my other SIM slot used in other countries when traveling overseas does not have the issue.  Nor does my other family members. 

D

Well, I was about to add my experience, but I see there are TONS of people having the exact same issue. T-Mobile wants me to wait 2 hours to talk to tech support. This is crazy. I’ve been a customer for 15 years, but I hear you LOUD AND CLEAR T-MOBILE, I’ll take my business elsewhere.

A

Same issue!! Any solution?

D

Yeah, step 1) go to boostmobile.com 2) give t-mo the boot! But seriously, no, they don't appear to care about us.

T

Same exact issue here. It started New Years 2021. We’ve had 2 or 3 calls to TMobile , where they check things like phone updates and data usage numbers. According to them all should be good, it isn’t. First my husband had a fit because he thought I was ignoring his texts, but I never got them. Then I noticed people who normally reply to my texts weren’t replying. 2 other people have now verified they are Not Recieving my texts!!! I have an android 8. When my husband and i test it, it seems to work. It’s very frustrating, as I have several friendships I’ve cultivated through text. It’s embarrising to keep having to ask people if they recieved my texts and sent one back, or if all of my connections have chose to suddenly ignore me. Just today someone verified through E mail, they got my text, I did NOT get theirs!

B

I experienced same problem when my source was sending me a verification code for security purpose.  I called T Mobile customer Service. She found out that the sender number is blocked from sending me a message.  Typically, if it is a corporate entity who is sending messages such as this, the company uses 'short code'  as sending number.  Apparently, T Mobile has blocked numerous short codes for some reason, my guess is to filter unsolicited msgs. I asked t mobile customer service to unblock all 'short code' numbers. This should correct some of my problems such as Institutional text msgs.  If you rely on text messages to receive COVID vaccine related msgs, you may want to fix this. My problem was COVID related notification issue in order to complete registration.

R
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Having similar issue.

 

Bought a new phone (iphone). When i switched services and tested everything seems to work. Calls and text. 

 

But it was a few days later that i realized that while most of my friends are able to text me, There were two who’ when they text me the text messages would actually go to the old phone (android).

I have since reset the old phone and it’s not receiving these texts anymore. But when  those same friends of mine send me text messages i dont get the messages at all.

I have since opened a ticket with T-Mobile tech support and they seem to be having trouble figuring it out.

M

After extensive troubleshooting with T-Mobile and Apple, it was identified that SMS messages send with iPhone 12 Pro from T-Mobile to AT&T and Verizon is not going through. iMessages works fine. Devices changed and the issue still persist. The issue is with SMS from T-Mobile to AT&T & Verizon numbers. T-Mobile to T-Mobile SMS works fine most of the time.  A ticket is opened with T-Mobile advanced tech team to further investigate and waiting for a resolution. It is a good idea for Verizon and AT&T customers contact the respective services to troubleshoot if you are missing the SMS messages. 

R
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After extensive troubleshooting with T-Mobile and Apple, it was identified that SMS messages send with iPhone 12 Pro from T-Mobile to AT&T and Verizon is not going through. iMessages works fine. Devices changed and the issue still persist. The issue is with SMS from T-Mobile to AT&T & Verizon numbers. T-Mobile to T-Mobile SMS works fine most of the time.  A ticket is opened with T-Mobile advanced tech team to further investigate and waiting for a resolution. It is a good idea for Verizon and AT&T customers contact the respective services to troubleshoot if you are missing the SMS messages. 

I highly doubt that’s the issue because because all 3 of the people i’m having problems receiving text messages from… are also T-Mobile customers.

M

After extensive troubleshooting with T-Mobile and Apple, it was identified that SMS messages send with iPhone 12 Pro from T-Mobile to AT&T and Verizon is not going through. iMessages works fine. Devices changed and the issue still persist. The issue is with SMS from T-Mobile to AT&T & Verizon numbers. T-Mobile to T-Mobile SMS works fine most of the time.  A ticket is opened with T-Mobile advanced tech team to further investigate and waiting for a resolution. It is a good idea for Verizon and AT&T customers contact the respective services to troubleshoot if you are missing the SMS messages. 

I highly doubt that’s the issue because because all 3 of the people i’m having problems receiving text messages from… are also T-Mobile customers.

It was tested several times from different devices. People who have iMessage works with no issues. The issue is definitely with when I send text from T-Mobile to Verizon or AT&T numbers, I get SMS but when reply it goes but not received by my friends. Some of T-Mobile to T-Mobile text also could be missing. 

My conclusion after several trouble shooting is either T-Mobile digits issue or SMS from iPhone to android issues or could be due to using international eSim for few days on the iPhone and then switching to T-Mobile eSim when back in US. 

C

I experienced same problem when my source was sending me a verification code for security purpose.  I called T Mobile customer Service. She found out that the sender number is blocked from sending me a message.  Typically, if it is a corporate entity who is sending messages such as this, the company uses 'short code'  as sending number.  Apparently, T Mobile has blocked numerous short codes for some reason, my guess is to filter unsolicited msgs. I asked t mobile customer service to unblock all 'short code' numbers. This should correct some of my problems such as Institutional text msgs.  If you rely on text messages to receive COVID vaccine related msgs, you may want to fix this. My problem was COVID related notification issue in order to complete registration.

Thanks for sharing this. I have had this issue isolated to verification codes for several years. After reading this post I called T-mobile and asked them to allow short code numbers and it worked immediately.  Oddly the number I tested on showed as a normal phone number, not a short code. This was also isolated to my phone line in our family plan.

M

Hi 

I have no issues in getting SMS message, but when I reply to those SMS messages where it goes from my iphone, but the receiver never gets my SMS message. This affects my friends who are on android phone, international SMS to iPhone who is not using iMessages and short code messages to doc office etc. The interesting aspect is, I take the T-Mobile SIM out and put a Verizon SIM and those SMS goes and receiver gets it. 
So this is something with T-Mobile SMS application and it is affecting one phone line in my account. The other two Phone lines works normal. 

P

This one is easy. has done it to some of my android (mostly lg’s) 

download google messages from the play store. keep wifi off after you download it and install it.

 

install it, accept and permit all necessaries access to your phone.

 

simply go to and enable chat features, it will either ask you or go under settings, in the messages app. accept whatever! let it set up until it says ready to use or chat features are active.

 

This sounds like they're referring to RCS.

I'm also experiencing this issue. Sharing my situation:

I used Google Messages until it bugged last week, and conversations would not load. Chat features (RCS) was on. I didn't hear from contacts that my messages weren't being received for over a year with my Nokia 7.1. (But also I've sent fewer messages in 2020...)

I switched to the Textra app and started hearing about missed messages again this week. I did not disable RCS after switching, but Google Messages was bugging out on me so maybe the setting was disabled.

In a group chat of 5, with me as the only android user-- One ios was connected to my same WiFi, Two was driving, Three was connected to my same WiFi, Four was in a facility and using data. One and Two didn't get my group text through Textra. Three and Four did.

 

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