Galaxy Note8 MMS issue, View All button doesn’t show message, other issues

Welcome to today’s #GalaxyNote8 troubleshooting article. Our topic for the day covers a couple of text- and MMS-related issues together with two other odd issues. We hope you’ll find this post informative.

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy Note8 MMS issue, View All button doesn’t show message

Hi. I am using the stock text messaging that comes on the Note 8. I have not downloaded any other messaging apps. When I receive long text messages my phone shows part of the message and has a “view all” button at the bottom for me to click on. When I click on view all to open the full message it just says “no subject.” If I open the menu in the upper right hand corner I have the option to save attachment or view slideshow. When I click on save attachment I get a message saying there are no attachments and when I click on view slideshow I get a slideshow of all of the pictures that person has ever sent me, but not the actual message. What’s the deal? I don’t know what version android I have. Thanks. — Tamera

Solution: Hi Tamera. This problem can be caused by an app bug or an unknown glitch with the operating system. To fix the problem, follow the troubleshooting steps below.

Clear app cache and data

To see if it’s being caused by a bug on the messaging app, kindly wipe the app’s cache first. If that won’t help, delete the app’s data. Remember, clearing the messaging app’s data will erase your text messages. If you don’t want to lose them, be sure to back them up first.

Below are the steps on how to clear an app’s cache and data:

Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
Navigate down to Apps. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6 or 7.
Once in there, look for the application and tap it.
You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
You should now clearly see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons for the application. Tap Clear Cache first, then Clear Data if nothing works.

Verify if issue happening with all contacts

Are you having trouble with one number only? If the answer to that is yes, then the text from the sender may only contain images and no messages at all. If you’re not sure, consider sending yourself an MMS and see if the same problem occurs. If the issue is also present even with the MMS you send to yourself, proceed to the next troubleshooting steps.

Install app and Android updates

A good way to minimize issues is to ensure that apps and the operating system are up-to-date. Your Note 8 is set to install updates by default. If you changed this, make sure to manually check for updates for all contents (apps) and operating system (Android).

Use another app

If the problem is still not fixed at this point, consider using a different app to see if MMS works just fine. If it does when using another app, the only thing that you can do, since you’re dealing with a pre-installed app, is to hope that an update will be released soon to fix the issue. Otherwise, we suggest that you stick with the replacement app for some time.

Factory reset

Alternatively, you can also try to see if there’s an operating system glitch behind the trouble. We can confirm that the Samsung messaging app named Messages works fine with MMS in our end. Thus, if a glitch may have developed over time and causes MMS feature to not work properly, factory reset may address it.

If you haven’t tried to factory reset your Note 8 yet, here are the steps:

Create a backup of your files.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Problem 2: Galaxy Note8 puts space or indention on its own when typing

When I type a text message or Facebook post, my phone is auto spacing/auto indentation. If I hit the backspace I can type it from the correct starting point, but it seems like the problem just showed up one day and I am not sure which settings function can fix the problem. I’ve seen suggestions for downloading a keyboard app, but I would prefer to stick with the phone keyboard if possible. — N_colasanti

Solution: Hi N_colasanti. If you want to forego using another keyboard app for now, we suggest that you do two things:

restore keyboard app’s settings to default by clearing its data, and/or
do a factory reset

To clear the data of the keyboard app, follow these steps:

Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
Navigate down to Apps. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6 or 7.
Tap More settings icon at the upper right hand side.
Tap Show system apps.
Look for the keyboard app you’re using and tap it.
You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
Tap Clear Data.

For factory reset, please refer to the steps we provide for Tamera above.

Problem 3: Galaxy Note8 screen showing dimming horizontal line

On my Note 8, there is a dimming horizontal line effect across my whole screen that appears and disappears at random. It is only noticeable when there is white or gray on my screen, and it happens more commonly when my brightness is turned down to a value below half. Sometimes it stays for a full day, sometimes it’s off and on and sometimes I don’t see it for hours of use. It’s only mildly irritating, but I see the Note 8 as the perfect device and this dimming is ruining that :neutral_face:. — Josh Brooks

Solution: Hi Josh. A normally working screen on any smartphone should not show any discoloration, flickering, or in your case, random lines. Either your Note8’s screen is malfunctioning, which is a hardware issue, or an app makes it appear to behave erratically. To ensure that it’s not a software or app problem, we suggest that you return all software settings back to their defaults by doing a factory reset. Once you’ve factory reset the device, observe it for at least 24 hours and see if the issue persists. If it does, contact Samsung and get a replacement device.

Problem 4: Galaxy Note8 Google Play Store app keeps redirecting to a download page of a cleaner app

Every so often no matter what I’m doing on my phone, Google Play Store suddenly pops up and takes me to download some sort of cleaner. Only once did it direct me to angry birds but all other times it keeps taking me to download this cleaner. I’ve tried installing the best cleaning apps but none of them detect it. I’ve tried soft reset and uninstalling all recent apps but nothing is helping. I don’t want to factory reset. Please help me remove this issue. — Necro_azalea

Solution: Hi Necro. Your phone is either infected with a virus or a form of adware that hijacked Google Play Store app. This forces it to direct you the download page of particular products the adware or virus may be trying to sell or get profit from. Since viruses or malware of this kind are only transmitted by other bad apps, there are two things that you must do:

Do a factory reset
Ensure that you only install apps from reputable developers afterwards.

The suggestions is not an either/or. You must do a factory reset first, then filter what apps you install to your device after you’ve cleaned it. There’s no amount of cleaning that you can do if you yourself allows bad apps into your system.

If you don’t want to factory reset, it’s up to you but it’s really the only effective method of removing a malware from an Android device.

Most advanced malware block or prevent a user from installing antivirus apps so we doubt you have any other choice in the matter at this time.