Cannot change notification sound in the stock Messages app

[kendepepi]

Hi Folks,

I have an official, unrooted Lollipop 5.1 on my smartphone. The stock Messages app (v5.1-1439473002) doesn't allow me to change its notification sound. I go to the Notification settings menu, change the sound, press OK, and then it immediately changes back to the original one. Did anybody run into this or any similar issue? What can block the sound change?

Any other app which I downloaded from the Play Store, allow me to change the notification sound fine.

Any idea is appreciated why the standard Messages app can behave this wrong way.

Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone? Are you going to the main system settings menu for the Notification settings, or are you opening the Messages app, tapping Menu>Settings, and looking for the notification options there?

Also, are you trying to use custom tones? If so, make sure they're saved to the Notifications directory on Internal Storage, not the SD card.

 

[kendepepi]

It's a ZOPO ZP920 phone, and I was talking about the stock Messages app, then Settings, notification options. The base system notification sound can be modified with no problem.

I tried to select a standard notification sound, but I cannot change it to neither the any standard one nor any custom one. I have no SD card, everything is on the Internal Storage. Quite strange anyways.

Now I am using a 3rd party app for reding SMS messages, but all the SMS apps in the market has at least one disadvantage for me, I would prefer the stock one - if I could change its notification sound.

For example some of the disadvantages (probably can be called bugs):

- Hangouts doesn't show which SIM card has the SMS been sent to
- Yaata can save Drafts only once, after the second modification the message is getting deleted and you can start to type it again from scratch
- Google Messages leaves a "ghost" empty thread in the SMS database when you delete a thread. When you delete all the messages one by one in a thread, then finally the thread is really deleted. If you tap the thread and select the Delete option, the individual messages are getting deleted, but the thread remains there and you cannot delete it anymore - just with another SMS app.

It seems we are living in the slob programmers' world. :-(

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, try going to Settings>Apps​, tap Menu>Show System, and select Messages. Now tap Permissions, and make sure it has permission to access your Storage or Files.

 

[kendepepi]

If I press the left button under Settings - Apps, I just get two options: Sort by size and Reset app preferences. Do I need to be rooted, or are you referrig to another place?

 

[lucianus_luciferus]

Ok, try going to Settings>Apps​, tap Menu>Show System, and select Messages. Now tap Permissions, and make sure it has permission to access your Storage or Files.

i think this option is not available under android 5...

 

[B. Diddy]

Ah poopie, you're right @lucianus_luciferus! Forgot the OP has 5.1.

 

[kendepepi]

Ok, but anyway the idea is good, it could be the root cause. Any further ideas how can I test it out?

 

[kendepepi]

B. Diddy, my 3rd party SMS apps don't have access to the Storage either. It looks they don't need this. What do you think?

 

[B. Diddy]

With the stock Messaging app, when you select a new tone, does it play the sample for you when you choose it? Also, what happens if you reboot the phone immediately after choosing the new notification tone?

 

[kendepepi]

Yes, it plays the sound sample, so it can access to the sound file. When I immediately reboot after hearing that sample and pressing Ok, the problem still persists. When I open Messages app again, the old notification sound is shown there.

 

[B. Diddy]

Does this also happen in Safe Mode? On most Android devices, while powered on, press and hold Power until the Power Off menu appears. Press and hold the Power Off selection until the Safe Mode prompt appears. Tap OK.

 

[kendepepi]

Yes, the issue persists in Safe Mode as well.

 

[kendepepi]

I flashed it back to 4.4.4 KitKat, and I there can successfully change the notification sounds in the Messaging app. But I need 5.1 Lollipop, so I reverted it back. And now the issue is here again of course.

 

[B. Diddy]

At this point, I'd guess that it's a glitch within the Messaging app, which may have been brought out by the Lollipop update. This is an issue with the manufacturer, not with Google. You could try contacting ZOPO and see if they're aware of the problem: Contact Us | ZOPO Mobile Official | Android Smartphones

 

[kendepepi]

I don't clearly understand what to do with Zopo here. Messages app and Lollipop are both Goggle products, and probably the Zopo stock ROM customizations don't affect any of them. Or are you saying yes?

 

[B. Diddy]

The stock Messaging app is actually not a Google product per se (like, for example, Google's own SMS app). It's most likely based on the AOSP messaging app (Android Open Source Project -- remember that AOSP was not created by Google, they just maintain it).

ZOPO probably tweaked the AOSP messaging app to serve as the stock app, so I suspect that ZOPO would still be the ones to contact about this.

 

[kendepepi]

I see, thank you for your help!