Frustrated by missing important text messages? Whether it might be a crucial updated at work, an emergency messages or just a reminder text, not receiving texts can be more than an inconvenience. It disrupts your day-to-day life.
If your phone isn’t receiving any text messages, there could be several reasons such as poor network, SIM card issues and many more. 😯
In this guide, we will show the few common reasons why you don’t get text messages and provide real, actionable solutions to get your messages. From a general check of phone settings to fix the problems with the network, we will let you know how to do it.
🔑 KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Weak or fluctuating signals can hinder message delivery. Switching to mobile data or moving to a better reception area might help.
- Lack of storage can prevent new messages from being received. Free up space by deleting unnecessary files.
- When airplane mode is on, it disconnects all communications. Check if Airplane Mode is ON.
- Network outages or problems in your carrier may be the issue. Contact your carrier if there is an outage.
Why Am I Not Receiving Text Messages: Causes
If you’re not receiving text messages, several factors could be causing the issue. Let’s dive into the most common causes, starting with the most likely ones.
1. Poor or Unstable Network Connection
For text messages to operate, they require a stable network. If you are in a region or site with weak and fluctuating signals, your device might experience problems sending and receiving messages. This may happen when you are in a site that has worse signal reception, like a basement, or if you are traveling through an area that has patchy network coverage.
Therefore, always check your signal bars; if they’re low, that could be reason why you’re not receiving messages.
2. You Have Blocked a Contact
Blocking a contact can prevent you from receiving their text messages, whether intentional or not. If lately you haven’t been hearing back from someone and they claim they have been texting you, it’s worth checking if you have mistakenly blocked them.
This happens more often than you might imagine. A rapid deep dive into the blocked list of your phone can show you which contact you might have consciously or unconsciously silenced. After unblocking a contact, their messages should start coming through, ensuring you don’t miss any important communications.
3. Your Device’s Internal Storage is Full
A less obvious issue would be low internal storage. When your device has no storage capacity, it can even affect the delivery system of messages. Smartphones need a little bit of free space to process incoming texts, which means that when storage is maxed out, new messages may just fail to come through.
You can resolve this by cleaning and freeing up space by deleting unnecessary files, photos, or apps. Once the storage is cleaned, your phone will have storage to process the incoming texts, and you will not experience problems such as not receiving text messages.
4. Your Phone is on Do Not Disturb Mode
Sometimes, the simplest explanations are the most overlooked. If your phone is set to Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, then you aren’t going to receive notifications of text messages. The messages may still be delivered, but without notifications, it might seem like they’re not coming through.
Once this is off, the notifications of messages will start to pour in, preventing the problem of not receiving texts.
5. Airplane Mode is Activated on Your Device
Forgetting your phone in Airplane Mode will end any incoming and outgoing communication, including text messages. This setting is usually turned on when one is on the move or wants to preserve the battery life of their device.
However, it becomes annoying if you forget this setting turned on and then find yourself not receiving any messages. Just take a little time to check that the Airplane Mode is off on your phone now. After you have turned it off, your phone will reconnect to the network, and any pending messages will received.
6. SIM Card Issues
A faulty or wrongly fixed SIM card will affect both the sending and receiving of texts on your phone. In some cases, your SIM might have been displaced a little, which causes problems in the delivery of your messages.
In such a case, you can remove the SIM card from your phone, clean it gently, and then fix it again. If this problem reoccurs, you might have to contact your carrier for a replacement SIM card.
7. Third Party Apps
Some third-party messaging applications interfere with your phone’s default SMS system. If you’ve installed one lately, it could be the reason of not receiving messages. Sometimes, these apps interfere with the default functionality of SMS, which might prevent text messages from coming through to a standard app.
Then, try disabling or uninstalling all third-party messaging apps to determine whether any of those are the cause. If it does, you may need to change some settings to prioritize your default text messaging app.
8. Problem With Your Carrier
Sometimes, the problem does not lie with your phone but only with your carrier. The usual network outages and disruptions prevent your text messages from getting through. In such circumstances, the only thing you can do is simply wait for your carrier to tackle the issue.
As such, it is always good to check on the official website of your carrier or get in contact with its support team to verify whether there are ongoing issues that could be affecting your service.
How to Fix Not Receiving Text Messages on Android and iPhone?
If you’re missing important text messages on your Android or iPhone, it can be frustrating and disruptive. Fortunately, to fix not receiving text messages on Android and iPhone;
1. Check Your Network Connection
In most cases, the reason for not being able to receive text messages is a weak or unstable network. Ensure your phone connects to a reliable mobile network or Wi-Fi. If the signal strength is weak or fluctuating, try moving into better reception or switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data to resolve the issue.
2. Check Spam & Blocked Message Folder
Sometimes, messages from spammers or unwanted individuals filter into the spam or blocked message folder as well. By going into this folder, you can find any texts filtered there that might have been miscategorized. Lastly, make sure to go through your list of blocked contacts so you don’t have any important contacts listed there.
Below are the steps to check spam and blocked messages folders on Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Open the Messages App
- Access Settings
- Navigate to Spam & Blocked
- View Blocked Messages
On iPhone
- Open Settings
- Select Messages
- View Blocked Contact
Note: iOS does not provide a way to view the actual messages sent by blocked contacts. To see any messages from these contacts, you would need to unblock them temporarily.
3. Restart Your Phone
Most of the time, issues are fixed with just a simple restart of the phone. Some minor glitches in the network can also be the reason behind still not receiving messages. Restarting your phone refreshes the system, clears temporary bugs, and reconnects to the network. Check whether messages are received after rebooting your phone.
4. Reset Your Network Settings
Sometimes, the problem occurs due to a problematic network setting, and the solution would be to reset network settings. This will clear remembered Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth pairings, and VPN settings. It might help you to resolve the issue of not receiving messages.
Below are the steps to reset your network settings in Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Connection & Sharing.
- Scroll down and select Reset Mobile Networks.
- Then, click on Reset Settings.
On iPhone
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on General.
- Select Transfer or Reset iPhone at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap on Reset.
- Choose Reset Network Settings and enter your device password to confirm.
5. Turn Off Do Not Disturb Mode
When the phone is set to Do Not Disturb mode, it will not display notifications, giving you the feeling that text messages are not being received. In this case, disable DND mode to allow incoming notifications.
Here’s how you can turn off DND mode on Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Swipe down from the top of your screen to access the Quick Settings panel.
- Look for the Do Not Disturb icon (it may look like a crescent moon).
- Tap the icon to toggle it off.
On iPhone
- Swipe down from the top right corner of the screen (or swipe up from the bottom on older models).
- Tap on the Focus button where the crescent moon icon appears.
- Select Do Not Disturb to turn it off. If the moon icon is grayed out, it means Do Not Disturb is off.
6. Disable Airplane Mode
When Airplane Mode is activated, it will automatically cut off all wireless communications, which include text messaging services. This should be toggled off to allow your device to reconnect to the network and receive texts.
Below are the steps to disable Airplane mode on Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Swipe down from the top of the screen using two fingers to access the Quick Settings menu.
- Look for the Airplane Mode icon (it looks like an airplane).
- Tap the icon to toggle Airplane Mode off (the icon will change from blue to gray)
On iPhone
- For iPhone models with Face ID, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen. For models with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the airplane icon to disable Airplane Mode (the icon will turn from orange to gray).
7. Free Up Phone Storage
The failure to receive new messages is one of many malfunctions that can occur when a phone’s internal storage starts to get low. The user can free up some space by deleting irrelevant files, applications, or photos. At least 10% of your total storage should be kept free to allow your phone to operate smoothly and process newly arriving messages.
To free up phone storage on Android and iPhone, you can uninstall unused apps,
On Android
- Go to Settings > Apps.
- Select the app you want to remove.
- Tap Uninstall.
On iPhone
- Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on General, then select iPhone Storage.
- Scroll through the list and tap on any app that you no longer use.
- Tap Delete App to remove it completely from your device.
8. Check for Blocked Numbers
If you’ve blocked a contact by mistake, you won’t receive texts from them. Reviewing your blocked numbers can help you identify whether this is the cause of your missing messages.
Below are the steps to check for blocked numbers in Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select Settings.
- Tap on Blocked Numbers to view the list of blocked contacts.
On iPhone
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Phone.
- Tap Blocked Contacts to see the list of blocked numbers.
9. Update Your Phone
It also occurs due to compatibility issues caused by running older versions of software, which affects messaging services. Ensuring that your mobile’s operating system is updated will fix any bugs that would be responsible for your failure to receive texts.
Below are the steps to update software in Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Go to settings
- Scroll down and select “About phone.”
- Tap on “System update” or “Software update” (the wording may vary by manufacturer)
- Your device will check for available updates. If an update is available, tap the “Update” button.
- Follow the prompts to install the update. Your phone may reboot during this process.
On iPhone
- Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on “General.”
- Choose “Software Update” to check for available updates.
- If an update is available, tap “Download and Install.”
10. Clear Cache
You can clear the phone’s cache to solve many issues related to malfunctioning apps, including the messaging app. This will not delete your personal data; it will delete temporary files that may be causing bugs in it.
Here’s how you can clear cache in Android and iPhone:
On Android
- Open settings.
- Scroll down and select Apps.
- Tap on manage apps.
- Select the app you want to clear the cache.
- At the bottom, you will see the “clear data” option; click on it.
- Then, you will see the clear cache option; click it.
On iPhone
- Open Settings and select General.
- Tap on iPhone Storage.
- Choose the App.
- Offload App. (This will delete the app but keep its documents and data.)
- Reinstall the App (After offloading, you can reinstall the app from the App Store, which will clear its cache.)
Conclusion
Not being able to receive messages can be quite annoying; it usually gets fixed with the right approach, though. You can always fix these most common causes by checking your network settings, making sure your Phone Number is correct, and managing message storage. If it still happens after that, you might want to contact your service carrier or visit at their service center because the issues are a bit more complex.
