Google Messages: Notifications Silent from time to time (no audible sounds)

[Dualmonitors]

in google messages, from time to time, new messages would come in normally yet without audio notification.

yet, when i reboot, it would be fine for a while.

without warning, after a short amount of time, i would notice that it is, once again, not giving audible notifications.

after rebooting again, it would come back again.

i wonder if this has happened to others as well? what can i do?

one thing i use all the time is the Messages to Web, so i can use my desktop PC to read and reply to texts whenever i'm at my computer. it is VERY convenient and makes it impossible for me to switch to another text message app, like the samsung messages app.

thank you.

 

[SpookDroid]

Have you noticed if this happens when you're actively using the computer? These web interfaces most of the time will 'intercept' notifications (because you're looking at the screen and not the phone).

 

[Dualmonitors]

Have you noticed if this happens when you're actively using the computer? These web interfaces most of the time will 'intercept' notifications (because you're looking at the screen and not the phone).

@SpookDroid:

thanks so much for offering to help.

it is possible that i'm on the Messages for Web tab on my PC's browser when the "no audible notifications" situation happens on my S22 Ultra. but even if i'm NOT on my PC's browser tab for Messages for web, this happens from time to time.

[FONT=proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]so, it's inconsistent.[/FONT]

i just tested it again and noticed that my desktop PC's Messages for Web isn't giving me notifications (audio), so i checked its settings. mysteriously, the slider for audio notifications for Messages for Web was turned off. so i turned it to "on". it is possible that in desperation earlier today, that when i unpaired the Messages for Web, and re-paired it with my S22 Ultra, that the default for Messages for Web when you FIRST pair it might be "no audible notifications".

anyway, now that i slide the audio notifications on the Messages for Web to "on", again, the no audio notifications for my S22 Ultra is happening again! previously, i was only able to fix it temporarily by rebooting the S22 Ultra.

may i please ask if you have any other ideas?

is it possible to uninstall Google Messages on my cell and re-install it? Or is Google Messages a part of the whole Google package?

thank you again.

 

[B. Diddy]

I agree with SpookDroid, it sounds like it's related to Messages for Web. Does this problem happen if you ensure that all of your PCs are in Sleep mode or completely off?

Also, does this only happen when you have the Messages app open on your phone, or also when you're doing something else on the phone?

 

[Garthur]

Some time in 2023 Google made a change to phone pairing for Messages for Web. I never noticed any change with the new method, one still needs to go through the same pairing process. However after that change my notifications became muted on the phone app, though all settings remained correct.

I did however, while doing a more thorough investigation, notice that my notification sound was changed from the named sound I selected from the many sound options (in Messages-->Settings-->Notifications-->Sounds) to one called "1165" or similar number. When I changed that to a known notification sound from those many options, the problem was resolved.

Bugs of that sort of just plain spooky, seeming like an intentional game by the engineers. Since it wasn't universal, were they targeting my phone for a bad review I did of some Google app? How I wish there was another option besides Apple...

 

[B. Diddy]

Some time in 2023 Google made a change to phone pairing for Messages for Web. I never noticed any change with the new method, one still needs to go through the same pairing process. However after that change my notifications became muted on the phone app, though all settings remained correct.

I did however, while doing a more thorough investigation, notice that my notification sound was changed from the named sound I selected from the many sound options (in Messages-->Settings-->Notifications-->Sounds) to one called "1165" or similar number. When I changed that to a known notification sound from those many options, the problem was resolved.

Bugs of that sort of just plain spooky, seeming like an intentional game by the engineers. Since it wasn't universal, were they targeting my phone for a bad review I did of some Google app? How I wish there was another option besides Apple...

Welcome to Android Central! That just sounds like a glitch, rather than anything sinister. When something odd happens on a piece of tech, it's much much more likely that it's a glitch than anything malicious.

Was the notification tone you had set a custom one, or one of the preinstalled ones? If it was custom, is the sound file saved to Internal Storage or an SD card (if your phone supports SD)?

 

[Garthur]

Welcome to Android Central! That just sounds like a glitch, rather than anything sinister. When something odd happens on a piece of tech, it's much much more likely that it's a glitch than anything malicious.

Was the notification tone you had set a custom one, or one of the preinstalled ones? If it was custom, is the sound file saved to Internal Storage or an SD card (if your phone supports SD)?

My Pixel phone has a lot of notification tones grouped into categories, and this was just one of those, pre-installed tones.

My take: a bizarre and sinister error! There have been so many glitches like this, and here's a curiosity: on more than one occasion, when I've used the feedback function to report a problem, within about 24 hours the glitch cleared up...