Why are incoming Text Videos on my Moto Z so bad now?

[NYKrumrie]

Hi,
I used to have an iPhone for years. I switched to Moto Z Force about 1.5 yrs ago. I love it but, a nagging issue I can't seem to fix is poor videos quality I get via text. When I had an iPhone 5S or earlier models I could get video texts from any phone from any carrier & it looked great. My mother & brother both have iPhone 6 on VZ. Now when they send me videos of the new babies the video quality on my Moto Z is terrible. It's like from an old 2000 phone. I've read it has to do with MMS compression. But these vids could be 15 seconds to just less than a minute so compression shouldn’t be an issue. I talked to VZ & they said they don't have MMS limits between VZ customer. I'm using the built-in VZ Messenger+ App which I like & hope it's not the issue. I saw others say you need to post the vids to a cloud or youtube for good quality sending. I never had to do that before. I don't understand how on 1 day an iphone5 can get a clean clear video text from either an iPhone 4,5,6 or S5 with no problem. Then on the following day that iP5 user switches to a Droid phone & now that video quality is all messed up. Any help would be great!
Thanks!

 

[doogald]

I never knew that Verizon didn't have an attachment size limit on MMS between Verizon devices. Perhaps the actual messaging apps do not "know" this?

If you are using iMessage on iPhones, the messages are not sent via MMS, so they are not subject to any size restrictions - they are sent via internet instead, and you receive the messages that way as well.

So, presumably what is happening is that the iPhone Messages app is seeing that you cannot receive messages via iMessage so it converts the attachments to a size that meets MMS restrictions and sends them that way when they are sent to you.

What may be useful for you is to have your mother and brother also install the Verizon Message+ app on their iPhones (it is in the app store) and have them send you video messages that way. Perhaps this will solve the problem for you? A slight pain in the neck for them, but better for you?

 

[methodman89]

Go into message settings. Select More Settings. Select Advanced Messaging. Make sure Share Large Files is toggled on. Go back one screen to More Settings. Select Multimedia messages. Go to Set Restrictions and make sure that it's set to Free.
Good luck. You may need to reboot after.

 

[Ry]

Go into message settings. Select More Settings. Select Advanced Messaging. Make sure Share Large Files is toggled on. Go back one screen to More Settings. Select Multimedia messages. Go to Set Restrictions and make sure that it's set to Free.
Good luck. You may need to reboot after.

On Verizon Messages+, right?

 

[NYKrumrie]

Sorry Ry, couldn't figure out how to reply in here.... Thanks for your advice but I think I'm missing something. When you say "go into message settings" do you mean go to the phones "settings icon" & then "messages"? Or do you mean open my default messenger I use "VZ Mess+ app" & go into its setting? In my phone's "settings" page I don't have an option for "messages". In my VZ Mess+ App I can go to "settings" but there is not a "more settings" option. I have Conversation/Notification/Application/Location/Driving mode/ Account. In my main "Settings" page I have "Advanced Calling" & below that, I have "More" but nothing refers to "Messaging". I don't see anything that mentions "Multimedia" either. I do have the phone's "Developers options" visible now if the settings are in there. Thanks!

 

[NYKrumrie]

Thanks for the feedback that makes sense. When does an iPhone send text or MMS via iMessage & not the normal cell signal or wifi way? I had it on my old iPhone but I never really understood how it worked. I would see how your example make sense that iMessage is converting vid text to a smaller file cus it doesn't see another iDevice receiving it. But I had both of them send me a 20 sec vids from their defualt message app like they normally would. I got the same bad quality. Any 20 sec vid should be well below all file or data size limits. Thanks!

 

[dmgerbino]

Another option for sharing is to have all your family members use Google Photos. Your can share the baby videos and pictures via the Google photos app. This is way better than old fashioned texting or iMessaging.

 

[Ry]

Allo is great for media sharing.

 

[Ry]

Thanks for the feedback that makes sense. When does an iPhone send text or MMS via iMessage & not the normal cell signal or wifi way? I had it on my old iPhone but I never really understood how it worked. I would see how your example make sense that iMessage is converting vid text to a smaller file cus it doesn't see another iDevice receiving it. But I had both of them send me a 20 sec vids from their defualt message app like they normally would. I got the same bad quality. Any 20 sec vid should be well below all file or data size limits. Thanks!

There is no such thing as "MMS via iMessage".

Here's how iMessage works.

Apple hijacks your phone number. And if knows that the person you're trying to reach is also on iMessage, it'll route that message over iMessage instead of SMS or MMS.

If the person you're trying to reach is not on iMessage, then it'll fall back to SMS (if no media, and under 160 characters) or MMS (media, threaded groups).

MMS is just bad for video - probably regardless of how long the video is.

 

[doogald]

Another option for sharing is to have all your family members use Google Photos. Your can share the baby videos and pictures via the Google photos app. This is way better than old fashioned texting or iMessaging.

Allo is great for media sharing.

Don't Allo and Google Photos require the sender to also have a Google account? Wouldn't it be better for them to try Verizon Messages+ (assuming that they are all Verizon customers, as the OP suggests) so that they don't have to get a Google account that they don't need?

 

[methodman89]

Verizon must have eliminated what Android had. My carriers messaging service, att, has the options.
Got to give all that free data without crashing their network I guess.

 

[Ry]

Verizon must have eliminated what Android had. My carriers messaging service, att, has the options.
Got to give all that free data without crashing their network I guess.

There's nothing for Verizon to eliminate.

 

[Ry]

Don't Allo and Google Photos require the sender to also have a Google account? Wouldn't it be better for them to try Verizon Messages+ (assuming that they are all Verizon customers, as the OP suggests) so that they don't have to get a Google account that they don't need?

Allo doesn't need a Google account.

 

[doogald]

Allo doesn't need a Google account.

That's right - it uses your phone number.

I'd say that this is better than the Verizon Messages+ app, then, for sharing videos.

 

[anon(6142785)]

Use Textra