A common problem for any Android user may be that they cannot send a text message to a single person. They can send and receive text messages from others, but for some reason, messages sent to this one person just aren’t getting through.
Here is a list of things to check to troubleshoot this issue.
Restart the Phone
A simple restart might do the trick. Hold down the “Power” button, then select “Restart“.
Check Blocking
Sometimes blocking happens accidentally. Check to be sure that you didn’t accidentally end up on a block list either with the message recipient’s carrier or on the block list of the recipient’s phone.
Check Contact Number
Open the “Contacts” app and ensure the phone number is correct. Also try the phone number with or without the “1” before the area code. I have seen it both work and not work in either configuration. Personally, I just fixed a problem texting where the “1” was missing.
Only MMS/SMS Setting
Note: This setting is not on all Android phones.
- From the Android device, open “Messages“.
- Open a message that was sent from the person who cannot receive your messages.
- Select the
located at the upper-right portion of the screen. - Select “Details“.
- Check the “Only send MMS and SMS messages” box. This setting may also be a switch you can switch to “On“.
located at the upper-right portion of the screen.Disable iMessage
If the recipient or sender has used or is currently using an iPhone, it can cause problems for Android users since the iPhone utilizes the iMessage network. Have the iPhone user disable iMessage by going to “Settings” > “Messages” and setting “iMessage” to “Off“.
In some cases, the iPhone user will need to perform these steps:
- Power off your smartphone.
- Power the iPhone off and insert the SIM card you used with the device before.
- Power on the iPhone.
- Ensure you are connected to a Wi-Fi network.
- Open “Settings” > “Messages“.
- Slide “iMessage” to “Off“.
- Leave the iPhone powered on for about an hour. iMessage should eventually deactivate.
- Power on your device.
If you cannot perform this process, or you are still experiencing this problem, try the following steps to deactivate iMessage online:
Note: These steps will remove access to the appstore. You can always reactivate the device to gain access again if you wish.
- Visit the Apple Support Profile website, and login with your Apple credentials.
- Select your iPhone device on the site.
- Select “Unregister“, then select “Unregister” again.
iMessage should now be deactivated. Check to see if you can receive text messages from an iPhone user.
If things still aren’t working for you, or you cannot perform the above steps, contact Apple Support. They can usually send a code to your new phone and deactivate iMessage on their end. It usually takes a period of 24 hours for the deactivation to complete.
This process has fixed this issue on multiple occasions. On one occasion, we contacted Apple Support via email. The Support department said that the person sending the text message may need to change how they are sending text messages. They will need to use an account with that shows “name”(Mobile Phone) instead of “name”(iPhone). These instructions didn’t make sense to us, but I figured I would include that information in case it helps anybody.
FAQ
I have an iPad registered to the same phone number I am using with my Android. What do I do?
You will have to deactivate iMessage on the iPad and any other Apple devices that are linked to the phone number you are using if you wish to receive text messages on the Android.
Meg says
My problem is that I can’t text my pharmacy when they send messages asking if I want my prescriptions automatically refilled. It gets stuck on sending for awhile then it says it failed to send. I can text anyone else just fine.
Dominick says
Android G Fast I’ve been having this problem now for about two months now. I’ve tried everything on this forum and even more. I personally think it’s a service provider issue, I’m using Boost mobile and the service was great up to about two/three months ago. The people at Boost Mobile are clueless plus I speak English and they don’t know what I’m talking about. Now I’m dropping calls and losing Hotspot every now and then. I can’t text certain people but I have noticed that once in a blue moon the text message has gone through.
Ray says
My wife and I are having this issue in October of 2022. So it looks like Samsung has not taken care of the problem. I am going to try some of the solutions and see if they work. We just purchased the Samsung Galaxy f21 5G.
Stephen says
I can’t send massage to my wife anymore I don’t know what to do concerning this…
Please if there is any help, let us know how to handle this situation…..
Ben Dover says
I’ve been trying to figure out why I can’t text my friend for months. Can’t believe it was the 1 in front of the area code- especially since it works fine on other contacts. Thanks for the fix!
Lacey says
I’m having this trouble with my Android too. Trying to text my mom& one of my friends. I can use voice messaging& they get that when I send it. But there are a lot of options here that I’m gonna try. Thanks!
Lynda says
Very helpful. My husband was getting text from daughter but she wasn’t getting replies on her new phone. I opened one of her messages, clicked on the 3 dots (upper right), and turned chat to off. Fixed!
Jon says
The person/phone number I couldn’t text was my emergency contact. After removing them as an emergency contact, I was able to text them, and after I added them back as an emergency contact, I was still able to text them.
Giorgos Doulg. says
I had exactly the same problem with my Galaxy S20 Ultra. I tried all the solutions above, but the problem was not solved. So i decided to clear the cache and clear the data. I would lose all the messages this way and so I decided to make a backup to my Samsung account first. When the backup was uploaded to the cloud and before I clear the data and delete all the messages, as if by magic the problem was solved. that was the solution for me.
Danny says
For one of my contacts on my Pixel 6 the tap for “Only send MMS and SMS messages” keeps turning off.
Ken says
I switched it to “Only send SMS and MMS messages” with my Galaxy S20, sent a text, received a text, and then switched it back off and it works fine now.
Julian Adams says
I could not send messages to only one of my contacts. As a last resort, I deleted that contact from the list, restarted the phone, and everything was OK again. Go figure.
Jenny St says
Thanks, this DID help me. My problem was that for this one person, it wasn’t defaulting to SMS/MMS and I had to click on the “sent” message and resend it as an SMS. I fixed by turning on the “Only SMS/MMS” setting. But I don’t understand why I have to do this for JUST that person? It’s not switched on for anyone else, and they all default to sending as SMS with no problems.
Desi says
You have covered some important stps to consider but one is forgotten. My issue is that sometimes I can send/received texts from a handful of people and other times cannot. The problem resolves sometimes if I turn on my network connection. Other times, I am required to connect to the internet to resolve it. The people involved have both iphones and android. Some of them report having the same problem. And then there are other times that I can send/receive texts from these same people who are using android, without either connection so long as my service is active. The android users report the same thing happening. We all noticed this problem around the time 5G is coming online in our area.
Lina says
I can receive from my email address but not send to it in MESSAGES. None of this helped. Have spent the entire day trying things to figure out how to remedy but to no avail. I have a LG K30. Quite aggravating and frustrating.
Cookie says
I’ve had this annoying issue resulting in my sons iphone.not getting my text messages.
The solution was to open a message from him and then tap the 3 dots top right. Then tap details and select the sms/mms choice to on.
A very annoying problem easily sorted. I just need to remember this for future cases
Vickie says
Thanks for this! I made 2 stops to the TMobile store in Newport News VA and the rep, Stephanie blew me off twice. I called them 3 times, never got a call back and on the 3rd try waited. they said there was nothing on my line. I read this and went to my settings and changed to allow to override do not disturb (even though the messages I was sending wasn’t in those hours) and it works fine. OnePlus 7T
Gayle Smith says
Hi thank you for this information regarding some texts not being sent I have done what you suggested and it worked even my provider couldn’t help so thank you
GMC says
Changing the “Only MMS/SMS Setting” worked for my Android
Lisa says
Had same problem with 1 contact starting not to receive my texts. we both tried everything on both ends. I have a samsung galaxy & only thing that worked instantly was setting my pre installed message app to default messages as I had another msg app on my phone I was using.
So try switching to different message apps as default setting
Lisa says
Had same problem just randomly one day, both myself and my contact tried multiple things to fix issue that she could not receive my texts, we both could call each other & I could receive her text. only thing that worked was changing and selecting my pre installed message app as default setting instead of one I was currently using. My phone has 2 message apps to choose from.
so try using another message app as default setting
Dav says
This is happening to me out of the blue as well from my Android mobile to my daughter’s Apple device. The last text she got from me was Thursday. Yesterday, she stopped getting my messages. I can get hers though. I can send text to other people.
I have forced closed the program, cleaned cache, rebooted many times, used Ccleaner, deleted our chats, deleted her contact info. Nothing has worked.
I use a Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown mobile device from Tracfone.
She does not have me blocked on her device.
I have not removed the messaging programs data, or reset the phone.
There must be something else I am missing.
Lydia says
@mary Kay Doyle
Thank you! Your solution worked for me!
Cleared cache, cleared storage and force stopped the app!
Lewis McDuffie says
Fancy Tipton’s suggestion worked on my AT&T Galaxy S9:
1. open the Message App
2. tap on the three-dot stack in the upper right corner
3. tap Settings
4. turn off Advanced Messaging with the slider
Sharon says
I’ve been having this problem since about 6/30/21 and all the troubleshooting hasn’t helped, and in fact made things worse. Originally, it was only iphone users; now everyone needs to get an mms message. Except messages from businesses, I can text “STOP” to them and know they received it, because I get the immediate reply that I’ve opted out. It’s crazy making.I even reset the phone’s eSIM. Nothing has resolved this and no one gets any texts from me unless they come with a GIF. I hate this.
Eddie C says
I found a solution. Delete contact, clear cache/memory from Contacts and Messages App. Restart and enter your contact with a slightly different name.
Eddie C says
This seems to be a network/software issue and not the phone itself. I have no data plan and no problem texting and receiving except for one person on my contact list. I can only get that person’s text messages when i turn on my wifi. It’s a temporary fix until Android figures out that its probably effecting lots of people.
Wickkit says
I don’t have the MMS/SMS option (that I can find anyway.)
1. My friend and I both use Samsung phones
2. She’s not getting my texts and I’m not getting hers,.
3. Started about a month ago and she’s the only person so far that I know of that I have the issue with.
4. We don’t have each other blocked
5. Our contact numbers are saved correctly as well as the same as they were when we were able to text back and forth just fine.
6. She’s Straight Talk and I’m Total Wireless, which is Tracfone, which is pretty much the same company as Straight Talk as I understand it.
Any other suggestions?
Fancy Tipton says
The Samsung user probably had an update and that update turned on advanced messaging for them where they can now see that people have read their messages and see when others are replying. For some reason iPhone users don’t receive advanced messaging from Samsung. Have them turn it off in the message settings and you should start being able to send and receive messages from that iPhone user.
Blake says
After trying everything with my android and my friend trying everything with her iphone and I still couldn’t text her. We contacted our service providers and friends to no avail. We had text for years, it just started in April 2021, I started playing with my text. I knew sms would never send. So I sent to her a mms gif. It sent! So I sent another. Then I sent a photo of my cat with a few words attached to it and it sent. Then I thought, well she will be getting a photo of my pets with every single message. Then I researched how to send mms instead of sms. My phone didn’t have an option to choose like some do, and so I touched the 3 dots when I had her text open and I chose subject field. It popped up as urgent or I could type one in. I tried both and they worked! I use urgent now because it is tiny.
Mary Kay Doyle says
This happened to me yesterday. For one of my contacts, I could only send MMS. SMS would not send. I could receive SMS from the contact. None of these solutions worked for me. What did work was to go into Settings/Applications and for the Message application, Clear cache, Clear storage, and then Force Stop.
Tsbeck3r says
For me it just stopped working a day ago. I cannot send messages to my iPhone user girlfriend but she can send me messages just fine. I was enrolled with the beta program for messages so I thought that was the problem, it wasn’t. I down graded and upgraded the app like five times and erase all data. It’s only her, I can text her whole family (they also have iphones). I’m hesitant to delete our text trend but if it will solve the issue I’m more than willing
Perry says
Changing the “Only MMS/SMS Setting” worked for my Android.
Chris Kunz says
Noticing a theme of the person NOT receiving the text being a spouse, child, or friend. Also baring in mind that the ones having problems are android user’s sending to iPhones. I can only assume that people not receiving the messages are spoken to fairly often when they obviously can be. Perhaps the issue lies within NOT deleting older messages from the conversation? I don’t know just a thought, I also haven’t had a problem since then.
Coralie Gardner says
Same problem. Has anyone resolved this yet?
Mel says
I’m having the same probelm, just 1 contact who can send me sms fine but doesn’t get my messages or calls. I’m on Android, she’s an iPhone user.
Teresa Beazley says
I have Galaxy Note 10+ and I can’t text to my husband who has a IPHONE! My kids have IPHONE and they get my texts but not him! This is insane to me. Nothing is working!
Pete says
Same problem here and none of the above remediation techniques work. It all started because my apple id is connected to an email address. I have an ipad with that id. My Samsung Galaxy s20 cannot receive or send texts to one person with an iphone. The person cannot send or receive text messages from me, we can call each other without a problem. Here is the weird part, he can send me group MMS messages, I receive them, I can even reply! The only problem is when we try sending 1 to 1 texts. Neither of us have the other on a block list, because we can call each other, we can send group messages. We have talked to both carriers, ATT and TMobile and nobody can help. I am seeing more and more occurrences of this on the web without any resolution. This is a small problem now, but with what I am seeing on the web, more and more people are facing this issue.
P l Spears says
No it did not help. I am having the same problems…will not text to random contacts. Says error 104. I have Lifeline Assurance and they could not tell me what the problem is. So they are sending me another phone…which will probably be a waste.
Mike says
Try editing the contact number and then saving. This worked for me.
Janice Fortney says
Didn’t help. I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy. We were texting and suddenly I couldn’t text her at the same specific number. I had been using fir her. I totally deleted contact, restarted, re-entered contact info. Still couldn’t text her. No problems with any other contacts.
Hizranbaba says
I facing this issue I cannot send sms to one specific number in pakistan from uae etisalat using galaxy A71
Anne Lee says
No, it didn’t help me either. I also use a Samsung Galaxy (A20).
KIMBERLY KING says
No it did not help because I use a Samsung S5 Galaxy phone.