MMS without data on?

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LiNcKz

Member
Dec 28, 2012
22
2
Hey guys, I bought a Nexus 5 on the day of release and after a long time of using it I finally gave up so I decided to post this.
Is there any way to receive and send MMS messages without having to manually turn Mobile Data on and off?

I owned a Nexus 4 & A ****ty LG p506 and didn't have this problem. Heck, when I had the p506 I didnt even have a data plan! And the N4 was on the exact same chip as this N5! (Not to mention other non-smart phones...)
A couple of days ago I turned on data by mistake and got MMS group messages from hours before, that's when I decided that it was enough and did some research.

First I tried changing from that awful Hangouts app, got 8sms but nope, still need data on.
Then I read something about the OS, So I finally gave in to flashing CM11 (Which had it's own messaging app) but nope.

What's the issue here? I don't wanna drain my battery by having my data on all the time... Is it even possible to receive and send MMS on the Nexus 5 without having to manually turn on data? I absolutely love the N5 but I'm losing phone functionality here...
 

mr-tical

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2011
670
277
Poland
www.google.pl
Hey
I don't know why but on KitKat i can't send/receive MMS with data off.
It worked on earlier JB, ICS, GB...stock ROMs also CMs..
Well i tried several solutions, even with Andoird Firewall app and few filters, but finaly i tried TextraSMS (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra) which have and extra option for that - "turn on data automaticly while sending/receiving" MMS :)
And voila :) it works.
Now i'm stick with Textra but some fix or no matter how call this would be nice..

Cheers
 

WWRok

Member
Sep 18, 2013
7
0
Huawei P40 Pro
Huawei P40
You can install Tasker and set profile to auto receive mms but works only for receiving not for sending. For sending you will have to turn on data manually.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

c4sh

Member
Jan 16, 2014
26
0
I also tried figuring out why this was happening. After searching around It looks like mobile data needs to be enabled in order to receive and send mms as it goes through a data connection, however if you have mms included in your plan it wont go towards your data usage as the carriers differentiate between mms and browsing. It would be cool if there was a setting implemented to only turn on data when you send an mms though as I imagine it would be annoying to turn it on and off when you want to send a mms message.
 

acdcflame

Member
Oct 19, 2013
45
8
If I were you, I'd leave mobile data on and use your phone the way it's meant to be used. I can't imagine trying to deal with turning mobile data on and off for something as "necessary" as MMS. If you're having battery issues, try another kernel or maybe even buy a cheap anker external battery pack. They're like 20 or 25 on amazon and theyre worth it.

I'm a fairly heavy user with lots and lots of music playback (meaning my nexus never really sleeps) and it lasts me all day.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

c4sh

Member
Jan 16, 2014
26
0
If I were you, I'd leave mobile data on and use your phone the way it's meant to be used. I can't imagine trying to deal with turning mobile data on and off for something as "necessary" as MMS. If you're having battery issues, try another kernel or maybe even buy a cheap anker external battery pack. They're like 20 or 25 on amazon and theyre worth it.

I'm a fairly heavy user with lots and lots of music playback (meaning my nexus never really sleeps) and it lasts me all day.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Are you running stock everything?
 

LiNcKz

Member
Dec 28, 2012
22
2
If I were you, I'd leave mobile data on and use your phone the way it's meant to be used. I can't imagine trying to deal with turning mobile data on and off for something as "necessary" as MMS. If you're having battery issues, try another kernel or maybe even buy a cheap anker external battery pack. They're like 20 or 25 on amazon and theyre worth it.

I'm a fairly heavy user with lots and lots of music playback (meaning my nexus never really sleeps) and it lasts me all day.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Mehh, I'm not a big fan of wasting battery for no reason. It already lasts more than a day, I can easily squeeze 2 days of use and still have ~10% left at night on the 2nd day (By not having NFC, LTE, BT & GPS on the whole day for no reason). The issue is not about battery life, the issue is efficiency of such. I don't wanna have to worry about charging my phone all the time like an iPhone user.

Well,I tried Textra out and it did the job! Thanks for the suggestion guys :)
I still can't believe the step backwards that was taken in KitKat. I love everything about KitKat BESDIES the messaging (Both Hangouts and the MMS problem that also affects other apps, Even CMs messaging app doesn't "automatically" do MMS the way it did back with my N4 with CM10. Then again, CM's quality has decreased to the point that I don't even want it on my phones anymore...)

My best guess regarding the issue is that the messaging apps are using the wrong APN settings. I noticed that Textra automatically sets up APN settings, and at first it didnt work.
When I decided to fiddle around with it I set it up so it uses my phone's default APN settings (MMSC: mmsc.mobile.att.net / MMS Proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net) instead of the app's own default settings (MMSC: mms.cingular.com / MMS Proxy: wireless.cingular.com) and voila! it worked.
I'm guessing all other apps are still using the cingular defaults so they don't work, and they don't give you an option to change it so they will never work.

Then again, I don't even know the difference between using the cingular APN settings or the mobile.att APN settings. My phone defaults to mobile.att but when I look up stuff online it's all about cingular (The N5 also has the cingular profile but does not default to it). Can anyone shed light on this? I'm using a GoPhone prepaid plan, maybe that's why its a different APN?
 
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danarama

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2010
31,277
18,811
Oxenhope, West Yorkshire, UK
Since as long as I can remember, it has been possible to set up a 2nd apn with mms settings and type "mms" rather than "default" which should allow data to turn on when an mms is received. Never tried it on my Nexus though

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

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    If I were you, I'd leave mobile data on and use your phone the way it's meant to be used. I can't imagine trying to deal with turning mobile data on and off for something as "necessary" as MMS. If you're having battery issues, try another kernel or maybe even buy a cheap anker external battery pack. They're like 20 or 25 on amazon and theyre worth it.

    I'm a fairly heavy user with lots and lots of music playback (meaning my nexus never really sleeps) and it lasts me all day.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

    Mehh, I'm not a big fan of wasting battery for no reason. It already lasts more than a day, I can easily squeeze 2 days of use and still have ~10% left at night on the 2nd day (By not having NFC, LTE, BT & GPS on the whole day for no reason). The issue is not about battery life, the issue is efficiency of such. I don't wanna have to worry about charging my phone all the time like an iPhone user.

    Well,I tried Textra out and it did the job! Thanks for the suggestion guys :)
    I still can't believe the step backwards that was taken in KitKat. I love everything about KitKat BESDIES the messaging (Both Hangouts and the MMS problem that also affects other apps, Even CMs messaging app doesn't "automatically" do MMS the way it did back with my N4 with CM10. Then again, CM's quality has decreased to the point that I don't even want it on my phones anymore...)

    My best guess regarding the issue is that the messaging apps are using the wrong APN settings. I noticed that Textra automatically sets up APN settings, and at first it didnt work.
    When I decided to fiddle around with it I set it up so it uses my phone's default APN settings (MMSC: mmsc.mobile.att.net / MMS Proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net) instead of the app's own default settings (MMSC: mms.cingular.com / MMS Proxy: wireless.cingular.com) and voila! it worked.
    I'm guessing all other apps are still using the cingular defaults so they don't work, and they don't give you an option to change it so they will never work.

    Then again, I don't even know the difference between using the cingular APN settings or the mobile.att APN settings. My phone defaults to mobile.att but when I look up stuff online it's all about cingular (The N5 also has the cingular profile but does not default to it). Can anyone shed light on this? I'm using a GoPhone prepaid plan, maybe that's why its a different APN?