texting issues

[joeldon11]

So I recently switched back to android from an iphone, and I remembered really liking textra when I had an android previously, so I downloaded it again for my new phone. I have a couple of issues though. For a reason unknown to me, occasionally when my wife texts me (Galaxy S5, stock messaging app), it goes through my stock messaging app instead of textra. She receives my texts with no issues. Anyone experience anything similar or have a suggestion for a fix?
My other issue is with group chats and iphones. I don't know if there is anything I need to do on my phone, but i don't think I am receiving all messages in my families ongoing group chat (I'm the only one with android). I just got a notification from textra that read something along the lines of "can't receive mms. check mms/apn settings"
Any ideas?

LG G6 running Android 8.0.0

 

[lunatic59]

Make sure Textra is set as your default messaging app. While you should be able to open any messaging app and see your texts, only the default should notify you. Also, if you open a messaging app that is NOT set as default, you should see a prompt telling you so.

As for the group messages, there's not a lot you can do about that. iPhones handle group messages through iMessage which is not true SMS and they don't open the platform to non-apple devices.

 

[joeldon11]

Make sure Textra is set as your default messaging app. While you should be able to open any messaging app and see your texts, only the default should notify you. Also, if you open a messaging app that is NOT set as default, you should see a prompt telling you so.

As for the group messages, there's not a lot you can do about that. iPhones handle group messages through iMessage which is not true SMS and they don't open the platform to non-apple devices.

Textra is set as my default texting app. It still happens though.

I realize that iMessage is different, aren't they being sent as SMS/MMS to me now?
How do I fix the "Can't receive MMS" issue?

 

[lunatic59]

As far as I understand ho iMessage delivers group messages to a non-iphone, it will send them as MMS attachments and split the group so when you reply it only goes to the sender not the group.

Is the MMS issue only occasionally or all the time? If it's all the time then you probably have incorrect APN settings for your carrier. If it's only occasionally then it's most likely a weak data connection.

 

[Hadron]

I'd start by doing what the message suggests: check your APN settings. You should be able to find the correct ones for your service provider on the web, probably on their website. Beware that many service providers have separate APNs for MMS and data.

iMessage should use standards (i.e. SMS or MMS) if you signed out of iMessage before you switched phones. If not then Apple's database will tell iPhones you are still on iMessage and you won't receive any messages from them. There is however a way to sign out of it from the web using your Apple ID now (though it took a few years and lawsuits to get it) - you can find instructions here: https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage. But if this was the problem I'd expect you to receive no messages at all from iPhone users.

Conversely if the APNs were wrong I'd think you couldn't receive any MMS (SMS would be fine). But some systems or phones use MMS in group chats, so if the problem is only occurring in group chats then that is my guess at the cause.

 

[Unforgiven]

If you get SMS and not MMS then it is usally APN settings. I'm not familiar with Textra, but does it possible have a special way to set them?

edit: ninja'd ninja'd

 

[joeldon11]

can someone give me a rundown on APN settings? I honestly don't know the first thing about them

 

[svim]

Textra is set as my default texting app. It still happens though.

I realize that iMessage is different, aren't they being sent as SMS/MMS to me now?
How do I fix the "Can't receive MMS" issue?

Even with Textra being set as the default, there could be an issue where the old default texting app is just picking up those occasional text messages first. If you haven't disabled that previous texting app, it still might be running in the background and interfering. So disable it, or if that option is showing, use 'Clear data' to clear its configuration settings.

MMS messages, especially when it involves different carriers, often can be received only when your phone is using mobile data (cellular). If you're using your phone just on WiFi when those MMS messages come in, try to open them again with mobile data enabled.
But yeah, the issue with the iMessage app on an iPhone is iMessage is a closed, proprietary standard that Apple refuses to let other platforms use. So things like group texts and some MMS sent by iMessage just won't be able to be read by anything outside the iOS/MacOS environment. Your family members need to enable SMS/MMS in their iMessage apps to keep you in the loop.

 

[Hadron]

can someone give me a rundown on APN settings? I honestly don't know the first thing about them

Access Point Names. You'll find them in the mobile data settings somewhere - I don't know the menu structure of your phone, but I'd look for "advanced" data settings as my first guess. Then compare them with what your service provider says they should be. In particular if your service provider has separate a separate APN for MMS check that that is there as well.

 

[tube517]

Who is your carrier?

 

[Teddy I]

I have textra and for the most part are happy with it other than sending photos most of the time they won't send saying that they are exceeding limits, which is set at no limit and my carrier is also set to no limit and I get sick of having to change to the standard Messenger just because Textra places limits in spite of it being set at no limit can anyone help overcome this problem or do I have to dump Textra.