How to fix MMS not working issue on OnePlus 6 (unable to send or receive MMS)

If MMS is not working on your OnePlus 6, you’re reading the right article. Today’s post shares a sample case of this problem and more importantly, the ways to fix it. Learn how to fix an MMS issue on OnePlus 6 by following our suggestions below.

Problem: What to do if OnePlus 6 is unable to send or receive MMS (MMS not working)

Hi! I have a OnePlus 6 and trying to send or receive MMS is a struggle. Sometimes they just appear like they should, but more often they get stuck in the “Failed to Download” realm. Similarly, when I try to send one, it is stuck saying “sending” for sometimes up to 15 minutes before it finally gives in with a “Failed to Send” message. The only solution I have found is to turn my plane on airplane mode, turn it off again, and then really quickly hit send or download. Is there an easy fix to this? I would love to just have them download automatically or send without having to toggle airplane mode. Thanks!

Solution: This problem does not have a single cause so you’ll need to do a number of troubleshooting steps. Follow our suggestions below and any one of the solutions should help.

Verify mobile data is working

Unlike regular texts or SMS, Multimedia Messaging Service requires cellular internet connection to work. If mobile data is not enabled on your OnePlus 6 device, you can’t expect MMS to function like you expect it to. To turn on mobile data on your device, follow these steps:

Go to the Start screen.
Drag the arrow symbol up.
Tap Settings.
Tap SIM & network.
Move the slider for Mobile data to the right.

If mobile data is on but MMS is still not working, continue with the troubleshooting steps below.

Forced reboot

One of the simplest ways to troubleshoot any phone is to refresh its system. Your case is no different so make sure to force reboot the device to see what happens. Follow these steps to simulate a battery disconnect (forced reboot) on OnePlus 6.

Press and hold down the Power button on the right side of the phone
Hold the Power button down for 10-12 seconds, or until the phone vibrates and restarts
If the phone turns off let go then press power again for 1-2 seconds to restart the phone

Clear cache partition

By clearing the cache partition, we assume that the cause may be related to the system cache. Sometimes, updates may corrupt the system cache, which, in turn, can lead to bugs or slow performance. If you haven’t tried wiping the cache partition since you got the device, try the steps below. This troubleshooting won’t delete personal data or apps so you don’t have to worry about losing anything important. What gets deleted in the process are temporary files that Android users to load apps faster. This cache will be rebuilt over time.

Turn your phone off by pressing down the power key for five seconds. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
Press and hold the volume key and the power button simultaneously until the device vibrates and opens the Recovery menu.
Choose your preferred language.
Using the volume keys to navigate, go to Wipe > Wipe cache > Yes to start the process
Reboot the device after this is done.

Install app and Android updates

Some text messaging and MMS issues are caused by incompatible apps or software glitches. To minimize problems like these, you want to constantly check for updates to apps and the operating system. By default, your device should automatically scan for these updates and there should be notifications for them if they’re available. If you want to manually check though for app updates, you can just open Google Play Store app and check for app updates there. As regards software update, you can always go under Settings > Software update to check.

Delete old conversations

If you regularly send MMS or long texts, it’s possible that the messaging app may have run out of space to hold incoming and outgoing MMS. Try deleting some old conversations, especially those that contain media (photos, GIFs, videos, etc.). These kind of messages tend to take up space fast so you want to clear some room for new messages.

Send MMS on Safe Mode

This troubleshooting step aims to know if a downloaded application is preventing MMS from working. To check, you want to restart the device to safe mode. In this mode, all third party apps will be suspended. So, if MMS works on safe mode but not on normal mode, you can bet you have a bad app problem. Here’s how to boot to safe mode:

Long Press power off button in your phone
You will see the Reboot to safe mode message appear on the screen
Tap OK to enter OnePlus 6 into safe mode
Wait for your phone to restart, after that you can see safe mode symbol at bottom left corner side of the screen

To identify which of your apps is causing the trouble, you should boot the phone back to safe mode and follow these steps:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your OnePlus 6 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Reset network settings

This is a staple troubleshooting step for any network-related problem. By doing this, you are basically changing all network settings of your device to their defaults. If a bug is caused by a bad software configuration, this might help. Below are the steps to reset network settings of your OnePlus 6:

Open Settings app.
Tap Backup and reset.
Tap Reset network settings.
Tap Reset settings.

Use another messaging app

If the problem is not resolved at this point, there may be an issue with the messaging app you’re using. Try to use an alternate app and see what happens. There are many free messaging app in the Play Store but we recommend you try Google’s own Android Messages.

Factory reset

Factory reset is a bit extreme in this case but we suggest that you do it before calling your network operator. This is to make sure that you cover all possible software troubleshooting. Just make sure to create a backup of your personal data ahead of time.

Turn your phone off by pressing down the power key for five seconds. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
Press and hold the volume key and power button simultaneously until the device vibrates and opens the Recovery menu.
Choose your preferred language.
Using the volume keys to navigate, go to Wipe > data cache > Erase everything > Confirm.
Reboot the device after this is done.

Contact your network operator

This last suggestion is necessary if nothing changes after wiping the phone. Not all MMS are due to an issue with the device itself. Since you’ve covered all the possible problems on the device side at this point, the most likely culprit lies on the network. It can be an issue with you mobile data subscription, an outage, or an account- or billing-related problem. Talk to your carrier about it and make sure to mention all the troubleshooting steps we’ve tried so far.