How To Fix Samsung Galaxy J7 that Cant Send / Receive SMS and MMS Messages

• Understand why your #Samsung Galaxy J7 (#GalaxyJ7) can no longer send and/or receive text messages or #SMS and learn how to troubleshoot it in a bid to fix the problem.
• Learn more about your device that won’t send/receive picture messages or MMS and what you need to do in order to fix it.

Text messaging (#SMS or Short Message Service) is among the most basic feature you can find in any mobile phones. In fact, basic phones can send and receive SMS without much of a problem that is the reason why many “smartphone” owners get disappointed easily when their devices fail to transmit their texts. The same is true with the new Samsung Galaxy J7, a mid-range device with really impressive specs and features. But these things can easily be forgotten when owners encounter recurring issues.
Another problem that many smartphone owners may encounter is with the MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). It is a more advanced text messaging service as it requires internet connectivity through mobile data network for the messages to be sent and received. Users may often complain about not being able to send / receive picture messages or texts with attached files.
So, in this post, I will tackle these issues and walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy J7 to see if we can make it work again. While we only suggest things or procedures that are safe for both your phone and data, unexpected things can happen during the process so please proceed at your own risk.

• Troubleshooting Galaxy J7 that won’t send / receive SMS
• Troubleshooting Galaxy J7 that won’t send / receive MMS

Now, before we jump into our troubleshooting, if you have other concerns with your phone, make sure you drop by our Galaxy J7 troubleshooting page for we have already published several troubleshooting guides that may help you fix your problem. If you need further assistance, however, you can contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire and providing us with more information about your issues.

Troubleshooting Galaxy J7 that won’t send / receive SMS

When it comes to SMS, there are a few things you have to consider to determine what causes the problem and whether or not you can do something about it. Follow our step-by-step troubleshooting guides below to try to fix the problem you might have with your J7.
Fixing Galaxy J7 that can’t send SMS
Among the things you have to consider when your phone can no longer send a text message are the following:

• Account standing and credit
• Signal strength
• Changed settings
• Messaging app problem
• Firmware issues

Based on these things, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Power-cycle your device

If it’s the first time the problem occurred, reboot your Galaxy J7 first. Glitches happen all the time and not being able to send SMS is just one of the results. Don’t do anything complex yet, instead, try to restart your device. Once the phone is up and running, compose a test message and then send it to your own number. If you can receive it, then it was sent successfully. Problem solved!
However, if the test message didn’t go through, then continue troubleshooting your device.

Step 2: Check the signal bars

The phone must be connected to your provider’s cellular network to be able to send and receive SMS and the signal indicator on the top-right portion of your phone’s display says it all. If it shows there’s only one or two bars of signal, it could be reason why the phone cannot send the message as it will take too long for the device to transmit it to the point that the system will cancel the process.

Of course, if you’re in an area with bad reception, you should consult your provider as it often has a solution for such problem. In this case, also, it may not be the first time the problem happened so at this point, you should already know what the problem really is and who to turn to to work around it.

However, if the phone shows there’s a decent signal reception and you still can’t send SMS, then the next step may give you an idea what to do.

Step 3: Check the Message Center Number

When it comes to sending text messages, the Message Center Number is as important as the signal because without it, the phone cannot transmit the text message despite having excellent signal. So, try to check if your device still has the number and if it’s correct. Follow these steps to verify:

1. From any Home screen, tap Messages.
2. Tap the MORE icon.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap More settings.
5. Tap Text messages.
6. View the number under Message center.

If you can’t find a series of number in that field or if there is one but you don’t know if it’s correct or not, try to google your provider’s center number and enter it on your phone. Or, you may call your provider and ask about it.

Step 4: Reset your phone’s messaging app

After verifying that your device has the correct Message Center Number, it’s time to go after the messaging app you’re using. If you’ve installed one from the Play Store, then try disabling or uninstalling it and then re-enable Messages. After that, try sending a test message to your own number and if the problem persists, try these steps:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Tap Messages.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
8. Tap Clear cache.

To uninstall an app, here’s what you have to do:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Tap the desired application
6. Tap Uninstall.
7. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Step 5: Perform Factory Reset on your Galaxy J7

If steps 1 through 4 failed to fix the problem, then you have left with no other choice but to reset your phone, however, before doing it, make sure you backup all your important files and data as they’ll all be deleted. Then, follow these steps to do the reset:

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Backup and Reset.
5. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. Tap Factory data reset.
8. Tap Reset device.
9. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
10. Tap Continue.
11. Tap Delete all.

Step 6: Call your provider’s tech support

Actually, you can do this before the first step. The reason why I intentionally placed it at the end of the guide is because, you may have to wait several minutes on the line for the rep to pick up your call and may just be told to reset your phone. But since everything failed, it’s time to pick up your phone (the other phone) and call tech support.

Fixing Galaxy J7 that can’t receive SMS

If your phone can send out text messages but can’t receive them, here are the things you need to consider:

• Storage left on your phone’s internal memory
• Incorrect time and/or date
• Messaging app crashing
• Firmware issue

Based on these things, here’s what I suggest you do to try to fix the problem:

Step 1: Send a test message to your number to verify

As soon as you suspect your phone’s not receiving text messages from friends, verify immediately if your suspicion is true by composing a text message and sending it to your own number.

If you can receive you own message, then there’s nothing wrong with your phone, maybe your friends haven’t responded to your messages yet.

However, if the message did go through but your phone didn’t receive it, then continue with your troubleshooting.

Step 2: Reboot your Galaxy J7

There’s always the possibility that it’s just a minor glitch in the system. So, before you do some complex troubleshooting procedures, make sure you reboot your phone first. It’s safe and easy to do but very effective in fixing issues that happen without apparent reason.

Step 3: Check the how much storage is left

Text messages are very small in size but if you have hundreds of them, they sure will take up some storage. So, check if your phone still has enough storage left because if not, then the reason why you can’t receive text messages is because your device cannot download them. Remember that text messages are saved in your phone’s internal storage. So, in this case, try to transfer your files, data, pictures and some apps to your microSD card to free up some space in your phone’s internal storage. After this, the messages should be received.

Step 4: Check the Time and Date of your phone

If your phone played the message alert tone and you can’t find the message anywhere, then your phone may have set with a wrong time and/or date.

You may set your device to use the automatic time and date or you can just set the correct one. After this, the messages that were received will still be arranged the same way but new ones will surely be arranged in chronological order and are easier to find as they will be visible immediately when you open your inbox.

Step 5: Clear cache and data of messaging app

Whether you’re getting an error message or not, it’s recommended you clear the cache and data of the messaging app to reset it.

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Tap Messages.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
8. Tap Clear cache.

Step 6: If all else fails, do the Master Reset

In the first problem, I suggested you do the Factory Reset but in this case, you should do the Master Reset. It’s basically just like the typical reset but it also reformats both the cache and data partitions and gets rid of possibly corrupt cache and data.

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. Turn off your Galaxy J7.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
5. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
6. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
7. Press Power button to select.
8. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
9. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
10. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
11. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope this helps.

Troubleshooting Galaxy J7 that won’t send / receive MMS

As I said earlier, MMS is a bit more complicated than SMS but it’s actually easier to fix problems that have relations to mobile data or internet connectivity. In the first problem, there’s a separate guide for problems with sending and receiving SMS but for this issue, there will only be one. If your J7 cannot send an MMS, it is most likely not be able to receive one. So, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Reboot your device

If it’s the first time that your phone didn’t send or receive MMS, then just reboot it to rule out the possibility that it’s just a minor system glitch. Minor glitches in the system or hardware can easily be fixed by a simple reboot so it’s worth doing it. After all, it’s safe and easy to do.

Step 2: Make sure mobile data is enabled on your J7

When it comes to MMS, mobile data is everything. While there are apps that may allow you to send picture messages over Wi-Fi, mobile data is still the default medium in sending multimedia files as part of a text message. Therefore, make sure that it is enabled or turned on:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Data usage.
4. Slide the Mobile data Switch to the ON position.

After you’ve made sure mobile data is enabled and you still can’t send and receive MMS, then try the next step.

Step 3: Check your phone has the correct APN

If the SMS service has the Message Center Number to transmit byte-size texts, the MMS use an Access Point Name (APN) to connect to the mobile data network and transmit bigger data. Therefore, make sure your phone is properly set with correct APN. Here’s how you check the APN settings:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Menu key.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Mobile networks.
4. Tap Access Point Names.
5. If available, tap the T-Mobile US APN (the bullet point fills with green). If not available, tap
6. the Menu key, and then tap New APN. Note: To reset your APN settings, tap the Menu key and then tap Reset to default.
7. Verify and update the settings for the Data APN.

If you don’t know the correct APN, you better call your provider and ask for it or use google to find it online.

Step 4: Reset your phone and set it up again

After you’ve verified everything on your phone and you still can’t send and receive MMS, then it’s time to reset it. After the reset, setup your phone again and verify the settings. You may also call your service provider and as the rep to help you set up your device at the same inquire about the status of your account.

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. Turn off your Galaxy J7.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
5. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
6. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
7. Press Power button to select.
8. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
9. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
10. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
11. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that his troubleshooting guide can help you fix your Samsung Galaxy J7 that won’t send and receive text messages and MMS.