Today’s smartphones are already capable of doing a lot of things for entertainment, business, and personal purposes. But all these new advanced features will mean nothing if your smartphone is not capable of doing its basic task that is to send or receive text messages or SMS. This happens and can happen to any smartphone be it those running on iOS or Android platform, early or new versions. There are many reasons as to why a smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for instance, is unable to send or receive SMS messages. First and the usual cause is a network problem. Network problems are inevitable. You wouldn’t know when and how it occurs. You will just notice that something is wrong when something is not working.
More often than not, network issues are rectifiable by end-users unless it’s due to a technical issue on your network service provider’s end. Among the most effective and highly recommended procedures are mapped out below to help you whenever you’re dealing with the same problem on your Galaxy Note 8. Feel free to refer to this walkthrough when needed.
Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy Note 8 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.
First solution: Quit and restart your messaging app.
For first instances, the problem is likely a minor flaw from within the messaging application in use. Any app can go through the same random errors when triggered by some factors. Usually, these errors can easily be remedied by quitting and restarting the app. That said, try to quit and restart your messaging app with these steps:
- Press the Recent apps key located at the bottom left corner of the screen. A list of apps will then show up on the screen.
- Touch the Messaging app from the list and then drag it to the right or left. Alternatively tap the X to close the app.
- If you see other recent apps, tap the Clear all icon to quit them all. Doing so will halt any of these background apps from causing conflict with the messaging app.
After about 30 seconds, you can launch the app again and then create a test SMS message to send and receive.
Second solution: Reboot your phone (soft reset).
Another simple solution you can try on is a soft reset or device restart. It clears up your phone’s internal memory and likewise rectifies minor apps glitches including those affecting your messaging application. It doesn’t affect any of your data and personal information stored on the phone’s internal memory so you don’t have to create backups beforehand. If you haven’t restarted your phone yet, then do so with these steps:
- Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds until the Power off prompt appears.
- Tap the Restart option.
- Tap Restart again to confirm.
- Give your phone up to 90 seconds to complete the restart process.
Alternatively, you can use the hardware keys to soft reset your device, especially when it gets frozen from the error. Here’s how it’s done:
- Press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button simultaneously for up to 45 seconds.
- Release both buttons when the phone power cycles.
After the restart, try to create a test SMS message and see if you are now able to send and receive the message on your device.
Third solution: Clear cache and data on your messaging app.
Temporary files stored as cache on your messaging app can also cause the same problem to occur especially when they get corrupted. When this happens, the app may not be able to reload a certain cache and as a result it would crash. Clearing cache and data from your messaging app can likely fix the problem especially if it’s triggered by some corrupted cache files and data. Here’s how it’s done:
- Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap to select your Messaging app in the list or tap the Menu (3 dots) icon then select the option to Show system apps.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear data then tap OK. This will delete any data stored in your messaging app including settings, login information, and saved contents.
- Tap Clear cache.
- Wait until the cache clearing is complete.
Restart your phone then open your messaging app and create a test SMS message to send and receive.
Fourth solution: Reset network settings on your phone.
Incorrect network settings are also among the possible reasons as to why you’re unable to send or receive SMS or text message on your device. If you happen to make some changes to your phone’s network settings before the problem instigates, then most likely that’s the root cause. You can try reverting the changes you’ve made or perform a network settings reset instead. Here’s how:
- Swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap General Management.
- Tap Reset.
- Select the option to Reset network settings.
- Tap Reset settings.
- Enter your PIN or password if necessary.
- Tap Reset settings again to confirm.
Your phone will restart automatically when the network settings reset is finished. Wait until everything is loaded up completely and then retry sending and receiving SMS.
Fifth solution: Reset your phone to factory defaults
You may consider resorting to a factory data reset to restore your Galaxy Note 8 to its factory defaults and then start setting it up from scratch. This can help especially if the problem is inflicted by some tough bugs dwelling in the phone’s system registry. But it’s also worth noting that this reset wipes everything from your device including your personal information, settings, and other critical data. Should you wish to proceed, be sure to back up everything. Here’s how it works:
- Back up your data.
- Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings.
- Go to Cloud and accounts.
- Tap Backup and restore. Doing so will allow you to create a backup of your important data before wiping them all.
- After creating backups, go back to the Settings menu.
- Tap General Management.
- Scroll to and tap Reset.
- Then select Factory data reset from the given options.
- Tap Reset to continue.
- If prompted, enter your credentials.
- Tap Continue.
- Then tap Delete all to confirm reset.
Wait until the reset is finished and your phone reboots. By then you can proceed with the initial device setup and configure necessary options including network settings manually.
Other options
Contact your carrier or network service provider if you still cannot send or receive text messages or SMS on your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 after exhausting all possible means on your end. There might be some ongoing network outages or technical problems on their end that caused SMS services to become unavailable at the moment. Also verify and ensure that your account status is good. Sometimes, outgoing services including texting (SMS messaging) are temporarily disabled due to account-related issues that need to be settled with your carrier. Make sure that’s not causing you this trouble.
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