Welcome to our new #GalaxyS7 troubleshooting article! This post covers some texting issues, especially the annoying “sending failed …” error. This bug has been reported for some time now and a lot of S7 users have been asking us if there’s anything that we can do about it. Unfortunately, this problem does not appear to something that can be fixed by doing the usual set of software troubleshooting. We think that it has a deeper reason, probably a firmware coding issue that went unnoticed during debugging by Google developers. We hope that by posting a lot of these cases in this blog, Samsung, Google, and the Android gods out there will take notice and provide a solution once and for all. Since a number of users have already confirmed that factory reset did not change anything, we decided to advise against doing it in this post.
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 S7 can’t send group message as individual SMS
After the last update on my phone, I can’t send out a group text message as individual threads. I have changed all kinds of settings and I’ve troubleshooted and reset several things. Nothing has worked. Due to my work….I need the texts to go to the group but I want the replies to be confidential…sent only to me. Help! Thanks! — Amy Booth
Solution: Hi Amy. Your S7 can send a group text or message but there’s no option for you to control incoming responses to make them as individual text. You’ll have to explicitly tell the recipients to create a new text thread and not to reply to the group message. We don’t know what “troubleshooting” steps you tried but we can confirm that there’s no way what you want can be done. We are not aware of any app or carrier that can provide the messaging service you need but it won’t hurt if you contact your carrier about this. They may be able to suggest a workaround or remedy that we are not aware of.
Problem 2: Galaxy S7 keeps saying SMS sending failed
My wife and I both have a Samsung Galaxy S7. Every time we send an SMS message, the phone tells us that that message failed to send. I have tried all the suggested fixes, including factory reset, and the phone still tells us that the message was not sent. We don’t know what to do next. Any suggestions? — Tim Scott
Hi. Ever since the 7.0 update on my S7 from Straight Talk, I have been having a problem with texting. I receive texts just fine, but when sending them it always says message failed to send, but the contact that I am sending the text to sometimes still receives the text because I have text a phone that is sitting close to me to text it. But it is verry annoying getting the message not sent notification, and it showing on my messages app that the text was failed.
FYI: I can send and receive picture messages just fine, it’s only the texts that does not work. I have called Straight Talk and Samsung, they have no idea what could be causing the problem. Thanks so much for you help . — Logan Greene
Solution: Hi Tim and Logan. We’ve already come a number of similar cases before including this one. If your phone keeps saying it failed to send your message although the message was actually delivered to the recipient, you can either simply ignore the annoying message, or try a new messaging app for now.
As far as messaging app troubleshooting is concerned, the most that you can do is to clear the cache and data of the app. Here’s how:
- 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.
We now know that a lot of S7 users are experiencing the problem but there seems to be no clear pattern what’s causing it. We still can’t nail the true cause although we suspect it has something to do with a buggy default messaging app. Consider using another texting app like Facebook Messenger if you can’t just ignore the error message.
Problem 3: Workaround for Galaxy S7 sending failed error
My Galaxy S7 on Straight Talk is having the common issues I have been seeing posted with sending messages and it’s saying failed to send on my phone, but they are actually being delivered. I have cleared cache, storage, changed it to cdma only, and even factory reset the device, but the problem still happens. One thing i noticed is that the messages will go through completely when im on a call on the phone. I don’t know if that helps with diagnosing the problem, but that and mms messages are working the way they should. My Android version is 7.0. — Scott Jorasz
Solution: Hi Scott. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. As mentioned above, we’re still gathering information about this problem so it will really help our Android community if users like you will share their discovered workarounds or remedy for an issue like this. Although we haven’t tested if your workaround works across other S7 devices in other networks, we’ll definitely use it as one of our suggestions for future similar cases. Hopefully, Tim will also find it helpful. We know it’s not a true solution but anything that will minimize the annoying impact of the sending failed message is a big help. We will also update this post once we have a proven solution for this problem.
Problem 4: Galaxy S7 receives SMS from another device, an iPhone
My boyfriend and his aunt receive each other’s messages. Sometimes she will text me and it will say that it is from him but it’s from her. I had my boyfriend check his send and receive on his iPhone and it’s correct but she has a Galaxy S7 so she does not have that option. And she has never had an iPhone. Please help. — Christina Beck
Solution: Hi Christina. Does your boyfriend and his aunt happen to be on the same Family Plan? If they are, there may be a mixed up on how their accounts are set up so they should ask the assistance of their carriers about it. There’s nothing any of us can do about their problem.