Why does my Samsung Galaxy S4 not receive the first group text in a conversation?

For at least a few months now, my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S4, on Android version 5.0.1) will not receive the first group message in aconversation, but then will receive the responses to the message (and others can see my responses). Why is this happening?

I know from talking to the people in the group that I was originally in the group, and it happens no matter if the person sending the first message is using Android or iPhone. One service rep told me it could be an issue with having mobile data disabled, but I've seen it happen when I've had mobile data enabled, too.

Any idea what's going on? This problem is causing me to miss a lot of important messages.

Accepted answers

jschuster52

I've been using Google Messenger for the last couple of weeks and have had no problems, so the issue seems to have gone away. As mentioned above, Messenger does appear to require that mobile data be enabled to receive group texts, but it at least notifies you if you receive one while mobile data is not enabled.

My suspicion is that the root cause of the original problem is a bug in the stock Messages app, but I'm not going to look much further into that. I'm glad to report further information or help the developers test solutions, though, if anyone wants to put me in touch with the relevant people.

Thanks for the help.

All comments

Verizon_Support

Verizon Wireless to the rescue jschuster52. I rely on my text messages for work so I know the importance of being able to receive these text messages. You stated this started a few months ago, did anything change on your device when you noticed this happening? What text messaging application are you using on your device, is this a 3rd party text messaging application or the native app?

JorgeO_VZW
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jschuster52

I can't recall anything in particular that changed around that time. I'm starting to run low on disk space, to the point where installing a new app usually means uninstalling an existing one, but that seems unrelated. Would the latest Android update have happened around that time? That might be a possible cause.

I've been using the stock "Messaging" app (and I believe I've been using it since before I had this problem). In that app, "auto retrieve" and "roaming auto retrieve" are both enabled, as is "group conversations: send messages as group conversations by default".

Verizon_Support

jschuster52, this is most interesting that this is happening. We’re not giving up as this needs to be fixed. Let’s check to see how much space you have left. Please go to: Settings>More>Storage>under Miscellaneous Files, you will see Available space. How much available space do you have on the device?
NatashaA_VZW
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jschuster52

Currently 2.04 GB free space. To be fair, I cleared the cache about a week ago, which I think freed up about 1.5GB (mostly from the download cache).

Another note that may help: while I was away from my phone for a while today, and while it was on wifi, I got another burst of group messages. When I got back to my phone, the message that *should* have been the first one showed up as an MMS download from the sender (in my individual one-on-one thread with that person, not the group thread), with an accompanying "Download" button. The rest of the messages were already in the group thread, but without the initial message. Once I downloaded the MMS message, the message that should have been the first one in the group showed up in that group thread.

So it seems like my phone is only auto-retrieving MMS messages after the first one in a burst, and sometimes the first one gets dropped completely. What do you make of that?

jschuster52

I have definitely missed messages while not on WiFi. I don't recall if I've missed any while I *was* on WiFi.

Verizon_Support

jschuster52, thanks so much for sticking with us while we check on what's going on. To see if this is application related, can you download Verzon Messagse and attempt to see if this does the same thing? Is this only in a certain text thread or all text threads?

TakendraW_VZW
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Verizon_Support

I can provide some clarification, jschuster52. Group text messages are MMS messages, just like pictures. WiFi does not support MMS, so they must come over a data connection. Responses to a group text often filter in as individual messages, and this may account for the descrepancy. if you are connected to WiFi or if you do not have a strong data connection, the initial group message may require a download just like a picture message.

MichelleH_VZW
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jschuster52

MichaelH_VZW: This doesn't explain my issue, though. It's not that the message shows up in the individual thread as an MMS download (at least, not always) - it's that I'm not getting the message at all. Is it possible that my phone starts to download the message (without me having received a notification yet), fails part-way through, and then doesn't notify me of the error? If so, how can I avoid that? If the download fails, I'd like to be able to click a button to retry it. This sounds like it might be a bug in the "automatically retrieve messages" option.

TakendraW_VZW: I'll try a different app. Perhaps other apps download messages differently and avoid the error I'm hypothesizing above. Also, this appears to happen in all threads, although it doesn't always happen - just most of the time.

jschuster52

P.S. Even when I turn off mobile data (by swiping from the top of the screen and tapping the "mobile data" icon to disable it), I can still receive group messages, so it's definitely not an issue of having mobile data disabled. I in fact received several messages in a group thread yesterday while I was away from WiFi and had mobile data disabled.

jschuster52

For what it's worth, I switched from the stock Messages app to Google Messenger as my default texting application a few days ago, and here's my experience:

I've seen a couple of group messages so far, and those have come through fine. That doesn't mean that it's totally fixed, since it only happened some of the time, but it's promising at least
This particular app *does* seem to require that mobile data is turned on in order to receive group messages. Even when I'm on WiFi, if mobile data is turned off, instead of getting a group message I see a "download" button in an individual thread from the sender. Once I enable mobile data and download the message, it appears in the group thread. The stock app I used previously appeared to have some way of downloading MMS messages even when I wasn't on mobile data.

Verizon_Support

Missed messages are never fun, schuster52. Lets make sure you are getting all your messages. Please make sure that your mobile data is enabled at all times. This will ensure that your MMS messages come through.
As for storage and updates. Have you tried to wipe your cache partition? This will remove old, background files from your phone and may help it run better. Here is how. http://vz.to/1IDH7tl

AllisonC_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!