Google Messages app won't receive new texts or often becomes unresponsive after Android 11 update, users report

Android 11 seems to be causing a range of issues for Google Pixel users, as well as plenty of others, when trying to send SMS/MMS through the Google Messages app.

The bugs are of various types, and it is unclear as of now if they are even related to each other.

As a result, the official Pixel Phone and Google Messages forums have seen a slew of complaints. And some of them are given below.

After updating my Pixel 3a to Android 11, I can no longer receive MMS messages. I’ve restarted multiple times, tried with and without automatic retrieval of MMS messages, cleared the cache and the storage. Nothing has worked.
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Updated to Android 11 last Thursday. Today is Sunday. When I turned on my phone, the Messages app was flooded with missed texts dating back to Thursday. Can’t afford to be missing important texts! Please fix!
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These comments once again highlight the point already stated above – that the issues are of different kinds. As a result, we are now going to list each of them down along with their workarounds, for you know, readability’s sake.

1. Unable to send/receive SMS: Several users have reported that they are now unable to either send or receive SMS through the Messages app after the Android 11 update.

Complainants have also already tried basic fixes like rebooting and clearing app cache and data, to no avail. Moreover, on transferring the SIM card to another device, the issue disappears.

This proves that the issue is from the Pixel’s side, and not the carrier. For now, the only thing you can do is trying the below-mentioned workaround.

Workaround: Try re-inserting the SIM card followed by a reboot, if you haven’t already. A user has stated that the problem disappeared for them immediately after. You can also try toggling on/off the airplane mode.

Threads for the issue: 1, 2.

2. Messages app crashes: Several users are encountering random crashes, black screen issues, and freezes upon trying to use the Google Messages app.

This issue, however, isn’t limited to the Google Pixels alone, as there are reports of the same on some other devices too.

Workaround: Use some other SMS app till Google does something about the matter. Some good alternatives are Signal, Truecaller, and Facebook Messenger.

Thread for the issue: Click here.

3. MMS issues: Turns out this issue is quite common, and we’ve already covered it here. If you don’t want to dive too deep though, then just try the no-brainer workaround below, and it will hopefully fix the issue.

Workaround: Enable developer options from your settings, scroll down to the “Mobile data always active” option, and toggle it on.

Thread for the issue: Click here.

4. Messages deleted automatically after update: This bug has also been reported by a few users.

And if you are facing it too, then we are afraid that there is not much that can be done apart from spamming the existing thread on the matter. Hopefully, a Product Expert will assist you with the same.

Thread for the issue: Click here.

With that being said, we did already cover a similar problem previously, wherein calls and SMS were unable to go through. However, it was mostly limited to Google Pixel 5 on Mint Mobile, and hence, probably unrelated.

Moreover, issues with Google Messages on Android 11 aren’t exactly a new phenomenon, as the duo previously made headlines for malfunctioning chat bubbles. You can read about the same via this link.

Let us know in the comments below if the above workarounds did the job for the SMS/MMS issues on Google Messages after the Android 11 update. Also, be sure to check out our dedicated Android 11 bugs/issues tracker.

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