Can't receive text messages sent to me while my phone is off

[bob_sacamano]

Hi community, I'm hoping someone might be able to help me.

I've noticed that if my phone is turned off (for example overnight) and someone sends me a text message I will never receive it. In the past (i.e. when I was with other service providers) if there was a scenario like that, the text message would come through to my phone soon after I turned on the phone. I've tested this multiple times (I've turned my phone off, asked someone to text me, and then turned my phone back on) and I've never received a text that has been sent to me while my phone is turned off. It's not the worst problem in the world, but it's very frustrating that if my phone is ever turned off I'll never see the messages people send to me.

From what I've read online about service providers in general, when a text is sent, it is first received by the server of the service provider, and then it is subsequently sent to the phone if it's available. If the phone is off then the message will be stored on the server and the serve will try to send the message to the phone at a certain time interval. I've read that different service providers operate in slightly different ways for this in terms of how often the server will try to contact the phone to send the message, etc... so I'm wondering if this is possibly a public mobile issue? Does public mobile not work like this for some reason? Or can someone think of another reason why I can't receive the texts? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[Shazia_K]

Hello @bob_sacamano, 

This doesn't seem to right, as you mentioned, texts are supposed to reach your phone even if the phone is turned off. 

Did you try testing with another alternate phone? Can you please send me a private message with your Public Mobile phone number and an example of a date and time which you think you missed a text at? 

Thank you @srlawren @Luddite 

Shazia

[bob_sacamano]

@srlawren Thanks for testing that, now I know it's something specific to my situation... could it be the AM/PM? Or maybe a separate knob? (to anyone else reading this who is trying to help me with my problem and is now confused, disreguard everything from "maybe" to "knob"). 

Also thanks for reaching out to people who may be able to check my account, although I'm not sure what they could possibly find that would cause this. 

[srlawren]

@bob_sacamano I did just test.  Powered my phone off.  Got coworker to send me a text.  Waited about 4-5 mins more, powered phone on.  Within about 30-60 seconds of it booting up, the text arrived.  I didn't even yada yada the best part--I mentioned the bisque....

@Saray_O or @Shazia_K, would you be able to check @bob_sacamano's account in your system to see if there's any glitches that might explain this?  I've never heard of SMS not storing for eventual delivery when someone's phone is powered off.  😞  Thank you!

[Luddite]

Sorry Bob, I didn't make it clear. I did the test you suggested and the message was waiting when I rebooted from completely off.

[bob_sacamano]

@srlawren Would you mind testing my scenario to see if it affects you? I.e. Turn your phone off, ask someone to text you, wait a few minutes, and then turn it back on. Just so I can figure out if for some reason it's the phone's fault or if it's specific to my situation. 

Thanks for the suggestion with airplane mode, I might consider that. I get about 8% battery loss overnight, and that seemed a bit high to me consider how much doze mode has been praised in any online article talking about Android but I never had anyone else's numbers to compare to. 3-5% seems much better (although 8% isn't that much more I guess), I wonder why I'm losing more. 

I wouldn't say I have a battery "issue" - I'm not losing A LOT of battery overnight, I just don't see the point of keeping the phone turned on overnight when I'm not using it. If turning it off saves me 5% I say that's worth it when I gain no advantage from keeping it on overnight (well I guess in my case I don't get messages if I turn it off, but in theory I should). Keeping the phone on overnight isn't a big problem to me, but still it's the principle of the matter, if for whatever reason I want my phone turned off, I should be able to get my messages once I turn it on. 

I'm on oxygen OS 3.2.6

P.S. Ya it's a Seinfeld reference, I love when people notice!

[srlawren]

@bob_sacamano further to my last reply, there are a number of things you could try to resolve the battery issue including clearing your cache partition, doing a factory reset (this will wipe all your data so back up anything you need to keep), etc.  Also, what version of OxygenOS are you on?

[Just noticed your user name!  Seinfeld reference?]

[srlawren]

@bob_sacamano that's really weird.  I have the same phone.  I do tend to keep mine on 24x7 so I haven't had this exact scenario, but on a recent flight I had the phone in airplane mode (completely disconnected from the network--to the network, I would appear to be powered off) during the flight, and had waiting texts delivered as soon as I turned off airplane mode.

Suggestion:  I know this doesn't solve your issue, but would you consider putting the phone in airplane mode overnight?  You should get very little (maybe 1-2%) loss overnight.  

How much battery loss are you getting overnight?  My phone loses very little when not being used overnight, I might lose around 3-5%.  The phone has a great Doze feature which conserves battery very well.  It's possible you have a rogue application that's keeping the phone from dozing?

[bob_sacamano]

Thanks for the reply. I mean the phone is completely off (hold the power button and select "Power Off"). I like to power off my phone while I sleep because the battery does drain a bit if left on. There are no issues receiving text messages while my phone is locked/screen off (if that's what you mean by "asleep"). But if my phone is completely turned off and someone sends me a text message, when I turn my phone on the text message does not appear (as I said in the original post I have tested this multiple times). 

My phone is a OnePlus 3 with up to date software (Oxygen 3.2.6, Android 6.0.1). 

[Luddite]

If you mean "asleep" and not powered completely off, I can confirm that messages received while asleep when I turn my phone back on in the morning.

I just powered off my phone and sent a text message. It was there when I powered up 5 minutes later.

What is make/model of your phone? Someone will likely have some ideas for you.