Android Messages app on Marshmallow (HTC) - MMS image attachments not downloading

[cytherian]

I have an HTC One M8 and had been using the stock HTC messages app... and was frustrated by its inability to handle group messaging. So I switched to Android Messages (Google). Everything was fine and I could see images sent to me. Then, all of the sudden, I could no longer download images sent by MMS. The spinning download icon would just keep going and going and going and going... with nothing downloaded. Stopping and restarting the app didn't help. Rebooting the phone didn't help. Switching from WiFi to Mobile Data didn't help. I uninstalled the app, reinstalled it, then magically it started working again.

But then... about a week later, the same thing happens again. I simply could not find any way to "reset" the app to get it back to proper function for image download in MMS. Cleared cache, cleared data, stopped/restarted, rebooted... NOTHING. I searched on-line for a possible answer... and haven't found anything.

UPDATE: OK, I think I figured it out. For some strange reason, downloading images on MMS via Wi-Fi is unreliable in this app. When I switch to Mobile Data, the images go back to downloading. Well, this is completely unacceptable. I want to leverage Wi-Fi, not use Mobile Data that racks up usage (I'm not on an unlimited plan). HTC Messages app worked fine over Wi-Fi. I checked Advanced Settings... didn't see anything where I could control this.

OK, I found this:
Check your phone's settings and make sure Cellular data or Mobile data is on. MMS requires a connection to your mobile plan unless you are using your provider specific app that allows you to connect over WiFi.
I don't understand. The Google Android Messages app did download some images over Wi-Fi. But then it would stop... and then require Mobile Data. Why? Seems illogical for it to be selective. I really don't want to go back to HTC Messages, because I can't do group replies to text messages.

 

[ManiacJoe]

MMS over wifi is still a "new" thing. SMS/MMS apps created by the carriers do tend to support the feature now for the carriers that support wifi-calling. Third party SMS apps are still playing catch-up.

Life should be simpler when RCS is widely adopted. (Don't hold your breath...)

 

[Rukbat]

It only took about 5 years to get inter-carrier MMS, it shouldn't be more than a few more years to get RCS worked out so that it's universal. (Who knows - Apple may even add it to iPhones, so no more iMessage nonsense with Android phones.)

Cytherian, consider it growing pains - and some day you'll be able to ell people to calm down about something else - that it took X amount of time to get RCS worked out.

 

[cytherian]

MMS over wifi is still a "new" thing. SMS/MMS apps created by the carriers do tend to support the feature now for the carriers that support wifi-calling. Third party SMS apps are still playing catch-up.

Life should be simpler when RCS is widely adopted. (Don't hold your breath...)

Ah, didn't realize that... I thought that this Android Messages app would be utilizing the same core services as the HTC Messages app, just a different "app interface." I had to do it yet again... reinstall. That worked, but not for long. So what I'd have to do is switch over to the HTC Messages app (which can't be uninstalled). Sure enough, the MMS image or attachment ends up downloading. Strange.

Anyway, I'm going to explore a couple of other apps then, because this is way too painful (such as when someone sends me 3 MMS messages with attachments in a row... and Android Messages stalls on all of them).

 

[cytherian]

It only took about 5 years to get inter-carrier MMS, it shouldn't be more than a few more years to get RCS worked out so that it's universal. (Who knows - Apple may even add it to iPhones, so no more iMessage nonsense with Android phones.)

Cytherian, consider it growing pains - and some day you'll be able to ell people to calm down about something else - that it took X amount of time to get RCS worked out.

Thanks, Rukbat. I hadn't even heard of RCS... will have to read up. I have to imagine all this technology will homogenize eventually. Like the way so many phone makers have started to abandon micro USB in favor of USB-C (sure took long enough... and then that'll be abandoned for something else, like a magnetic power dock).