WARNING: Handcent SMS Loses Messages!

[Bako]

I have been using Handcent SMS on my Droid for a couple weeks now, and generally I liked it. Obviously it adds a lot of features that the default text program doesn't have. But every now and then I noticed a message that came in and displayed a popup would not be there when I went to the actual app later. It had been received but somehow not recorded beyond the initial popup.

Today this started happening a lot. It seemed that if I replied through the popup, the sender's message would be recorded correctly. But if I just closed the popup or backed out, it would disappear forever. So I disabled popups. This seemed to work fine for a while (though the popups were the main feature I liked about the program).

Then, just now, I got the SMS indicator noise, saw the alert in the status bar (with a partial quote from an incoming message) but then when I went to the application to actually read the message, there was nothing! I don't know who it was from, what it contained... this made me very angry and frustrated!

It is unacceptable to lose even one message as a messaging program, let alone nearly half of them, and not even displaying others. I would gladly give up 75% of the special features on Handcent SMS if it would actually just receive and save text messages!

UNINSTALLED for the forseeable future. Be warned - there's no getting back a message (or even knowing who it was from) when Handcent gets its buggy hands on it.

 

[tdawgui]

Been using this for about a month now and have had this happen to me a couple times... quite terrible, but i guess it hasn't totally turned me off since I still use it... hope they fix this MAJOR issue.

 

[pbrennan42]

I never saw the point in it apart from nice graphics so I don't use it.

Phil.

 

[Bako]

tdawgui (great signature, by the way), I was in the same boat as you, but watch out - it seems to go in fits and starts, and you might wind up losing a lot suddenly.

pbrennan42, I liked being able to change the visuals of chat a bit, particularly to lighten them up (default program has a black background), but mostly the pop-up with quick-reply was quite useful. It comes up over the lock screen, so it saves you several steps if you're having a rapid-fire sms conversation.

Anyway, I won't be reinstalling unless the president of Handcent personally comes and kisses my chapped ass.

 

[pbrennan42]

Now that is something I really don't wish to see.....

Phil.

 

[Adiliyo]

as far as the lost messages, have you tried to look in the stock messaging app? maybe they're still in there if not in the handcent app...

so far so good for me (knock on wood)

 

[maggiem]

definitely try the stock messages. I had this app for a few days but uninstalled it because I couldn't turn off the duplicate notifications (from handcent and system). And sometimes messages would only come through on one or the other.

 

[Bako]

No, that was the first place I looked. The stock messaging app had the same messages as Handcent; none of the missing ones. I presume that because I made Handscent the default handler app of sms messages, if it failed to save them, the stock app didn't have access to them.

 

[snuckles]

Crap!!! Uninstalling now . . .

 

[quic]

i've had the same problem with Handcent on my Droid Eris, i've now resorted to ChompSMS. been using it for 3 weeks now and it hasn't lost a message yet. (hopefully it continues to work) So far i think ChompSMS has been all around a much cleaner and simpler SMS program. Slightly less features but it still works well and replaces the buggy Default Android Messaging app.

So to sum it up. USE: ChompSMS (if you want all your messages still and no leaks/battery drains) DON'T USE: Handcent (unless you want missing messages) DON'T USE: Default Android Messages (unless you want your battery dead in half the time it should take to die)

 

[Cory Streater]

For those who want to continue using Handcent the solutiion is to enable Self Check in Settings>Retrieve Message Settings. I've never once had the isssue you described since support instructed me to turn it on. I'm a huge fan of Handcent personally because it fixes a problem in the default Moto Droid messaging app that doesn't allow you to send messages greater than 160 characters.

 

[Cory Streater]

Anyway, I won't be reinstalling unless the president of Handcent personally comes and kisses my chapped ass.

Did you ever try emailing them about your issue? They replied back to me within 12 hours with a suggestion on what to try. They don't have a president BTW. It's a free app.

 

[Bako]

I posted on their message boards and hadn't gotten a response the last time I checked. I would go in and try your solution, but honestly, why would they put it in a default mode that loses a bunch of messages? If there's a setting you have to check to make sure it isn't grossly incompetent as a messaging app, maybe that should be turned on and not even be a user-accessible setting.

I'm still pissed, frankly, about having lost so many messages; it's essentially unforgivable in software whose sole purpose is to better retrieve them. Also, I haven't had any problems with the built-in messenger app in Android 2.0 (or 2.0.1 now I guess), and it does let you write messages longer than 160 characters (I presume it splits them up).

However, I will try ChompSMS, since I would like to be able to change the look and feel, and also, if it has pop-up alerts, I appreciated those.

 

[Flyguide83]

I have only had 1 message delete like this.... and I have been using it for as long as its been out for the droid. I just changed it to self check(whatever that does) so we will see... It is by far the best sms/mms app out there for android. I have tried all of them and they all get a big fat FAIL. With the 160 character messages deal, if you send a message more than 160 and don't have it split them... It will only send 160 of them right?? If not, I need to uncheck that box! I just don't want to have my messages cut off...

 

[tdawgui]

With the 160 character messages deal, if you send a message more than 160 and don't have it split them... It will only send 160 of them right?? If not, I need to uncheck that box! I just don't want to have my messages cut off...

With the standard SMS app, it would rely on the carrier to split messages over 160... what this means is it would only send properly to other verizon users... if you sent it to a friend who had AT&T, for example, they'd only get the first 160 chars...

With Handcent, you can check the Split 160 to have Handcent split the message for you and ensure that your recipient gets all of your message regardless of carrier.

For those who want to continue using Handcent the solutiion is to enable Self Check in Settings>Retrieve Message Settings. I've never once had the isssue you described since support instructed me to turn it on. I'm a huge fan of Handcent personally because it fixes a problem in the default Moto Droid messaging app that doesn't allow you to send messages greater than 160 characters.

Thanks for this... I've enabled Self Check and we'll see how that works now.

 

[Bako]

Well, I'm using ChompSMS now, and frankly I like it better. It's also nice not to have to worry about the messages being saved. The only thing it seems to lack is the number of bubble-style options for the conversation screen, but honestly its default is what I was using anyway. It also has some options Handcent doesn't, like the ability to use their servers to send messages if you don't have an unlimited plan - not something I need, but seems like a cool feature nonetheless.

I also feel I must add that my best friend is an AT&T iPhone user, I send him over 160 character messages frequently, and he always gets them (split, of course) in full. This is with the default messaging app. So perhaps Verizon has fixed the problem on their end.

EDIT: Also, by the way, ChompSMS includes the 160-character splitting feature that Handcent has as well, if you don't want to put your faith in the carriers.

 

[Cory Streater]

With the standard SMS app, it would rely on the carrier to split messages over 160... what this means is it would only send properly to other verizon users... if you sent it to a friend who had AT&T, for example, they'd only get the first 160 chars...

After the maintenance release, Jeremy and I tested this Droid to Droid, and I get both messages but Verizon sent a 3rd message about media objects being removed or something like that. So even Verizon to Verizon is messed up. I never had this issue on my VZW Touch Pro 2.

 

[Zorro1]

Thanks for the tip on Chomp Bako! I've been looking for an SMS replacement for the crap built in. Can't believe it can't even provide a contact list or most frequents like we had in Palm land. Geez. Handcent was NOT what I was looking for, just a simple replacement that was better. Chomp is a much better choice. Gracias. Searching under SMS never brought it up...makes me crazy. It's called Chomp SMS so how can it not pop?

 

[Integrals]

ChompSMS loses msgs too: Missing Texts or no notification - chompSMS

Personally I love Hancent and haven't had any problems with missing txts

 

[Bako]

ChompSMS loses msgs too: Missing Texts or no notification - chompSMS

Personally I love Hancent and haven't had any problems with missing txts

Well that's disturbing; it sounds a lot like what happened to me in the end with Handcent. I may have to go back to the stock app. It's actually extra disturbing that the ChompSMS administrator claims it isn't the app's fault - I've never had problems with their software, but from the other one it appeared clear that the messaging app could indeed fail to save messages itself. That's really too bad.

But don't imagine Handcent won't eventually screw up on you, though, it is verifyably unreliable, and in looking around the web I've found a lot of posts like mine. Plus I have lost literally dozens of messages. Thanks for the heads up though.