Enabling SMS in Settings is the easiest way to ensure that you can send and receive these text messages without any problems. This is an important issue because, although they are rarely used today, they can be essential in case of emergency.
If you ever need to contact someone and you have little coverage or Wi-Fi, SMS can be the fastest and most effective way of communicating, so you should have your phone properly configured to send and receive it.
Why are you not receiving SMS correctly on your phone?
Even if you don't use them often, you should make sure that your phone is working properly when it comes to sending and receiving SMS messages. If you've noticed that something is wrong, the explanation may be one of these:
SIM card problems
It is possible that the SIM is scratched, bent or dirty, and this makes communication with the network difficult. It may also happen that is not properly seated in the slot.
In some cases, the card as a physical format is fine, but it is temporarily disabled due to billing or network configuration issues.
If any of these things happen, not only will you not receive SMS but you will also have problems with calls.
Phone setup issues
The fault may be directly in your mobile settings, for example:
- You have the device in airplane mode and therefore all network functions are disabled, including SMS reception.
- you blocked the sender's number that is sending you the message and that is why you are not receiving it.
- You have a Incorrect settings in the messaging app which is preventing them from arriving.
- You have not configured the message center correctly and SMS cannot be delivered.
Network problems
If the Your carrier's signal is weak Depending on where you are located, this can also affect the reception of text messages.
If you are in a place that usually has coverage, there may have been a Temporary failure in your operator's network and this is interrupting the reception of messages.
when you use roaming There may be certain restrictions on receiving SMS, so consider this possibility if you are outside of Spain.
Phone problems
The fault may be directly on your device:
- Faulty software. A faulty application or a failed operating system update can interfere with receiving SMS.
- Damaged hardware. If your phone has physical damage, for example to its antenna, you may have problems receiving signals.
Other factors
Other reasons why we do not receive SMS well are:
- The system them filter as spam and they don't reach our inbox.
- El Message is too long and needs to be split in multiple SMS. In this case there may be problems because some operators have limits on the number of parts that can be received.
Enable SMS in settings
If the problem is caused by incorrect settings on your phone, you can easily fix it from Settings.
To access this section of your mobile you have to look for the cogwheel or gear icon. Then follow these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Find the section “Applications” or “Application Manager” (may vary depending on the phone model you are using and the OS version installed).
- Choose «Default apps» and then click on the option «SMS» or «Messages».
- Within the messaging application look for an option that is named "Permissions" or "Authorizations".
- Activate the permission to receive SMS and you are ready to go.
If your device is not Android but iOS, the activation is very similar. Go to Settings and from there to Messages to check if you have enabled the permission to receive SMS.
Beware of security applications
Security applications such as antivirus or call blocking apps They are very useful and keep us safe from threats such as cyber attacks and scam attempts, but they can also interfere with the reception of SMS messages if they are identified as spam or if they come from a number that we have blocked without knowing it.
This can be a problem, because it can prevent us from receiving the typical SMS with verification codes when we use the two-factor authentication.
What we recommend in these cases is that you review the configuration of this type of applications to see if there is a block or filter list that are preventing SMS from arriving from certain numbers.
Another alternative is that temporarily disable these applications when you know you have to receive an SMS.
Try other messaging apps
If the solutions we have seen do not give you good results, and there does not seem to be any problem with either the network or the device itself, the alternative you have left is to try other messaging apps other than the one that comes by default on your phone.
One of the most recommended in Google Messages, which is the one that comes by default on many Android devices. But there are other options such as QK SMS.
You can find it in the Google App Store, it's free and includes interesting features to improve your privacy, such as blocking messages that come from certain numbers.
Alternatively Press SMS, which is quite easy to use and can be customized, since it even allows you to change the appearance of the message bubbles.
Receiving and sending SMS is still important today, so you need to make sure your phone is working properly in this regard. In most cases, simply enabling SMS in Settings will fix any potential issues, but you've already seen that there are other solutions. You can even consider changing the messaging app. In the end, what matters is that you receive text messages correctly, because you may need them in different situations.