We understand how it feels when your Android phone continuously pops up “failed to download attachment from multimedia message” while trying to download an important file or MMS. In this brief guide, we will highlight the possible reasons hindering your phone from downloading the stuff you desperately need. You will find the related clues to fix the targeted problem inside the explanation of these reasons. Our guide also includes extra tips to resolve the “can t download MMS” error.
There is another common problem for Android users named “Invalid Sim Card“.
Why does Android scream “Failed to Download Multimedia Message”?
There can be various issues not allowing your cell phone to get files from the internet, and one of those reasons could be a “Poor Internet Connection.” We understand that “Poor Internet” is not a problem these days, but when you are not connected to Wi-Fi, the Mobile Network doesn’t respond well.
If this is the case, we suggest you Turn On Flight/Airplane Mode and turn it off again. Toggling the Flight mode will force your phone to re-catch the signals from the nearest tower. This method would resolve your issue if a Poor Connection were a wall between the internet and your phone.
If you find that your internet connection is good, then your phone must have a corrupted cache. The cache is a kind of small hard disk that saves data temporarily. If it gets corrupted, your phone doesn’t respond well to the incoming files from the internet.
Another possible cause for a failure to download multimedia messages could be an improper configuration of the MMS you want to download. This includes corruption of cache or data connected to the services of the file you want.
The messenger you usually use for conversation or file transfer can also be a problem sometimes. When you use a messaging app a lot, its cache gets full, and when the cache is complete, there is no space left to allow more incoming files. The most straightforward fix to get rid of the entire cache is to clear it as soon as possible.
How to Resolve Failed To Download Attachment From Multimedia Message?
We will start with the most effective and more accessible solutions to save your precious time. However, some of the given solutions will ask you to clear the cache to resolve the issue. Hence, you should consider transferring already existing data on your Mobile Phone to any other device.
Force Restart:
Mobile phones are electronic devices, and any electronic device can start behaving weirdly for any unknown reason. People usually use their phones continuously, which affects the performance of mobile phones. When cell phones start underperforming, the first thing a mobile user should do is to restart the device once. See the image below if using iPhone. Also read our post if someone has blocked you on iPhone and you want to text them.
After you power it off, keep it off for at least a minute or two. Then, restart the phone again, connect to the best network connection nearby you, and try downloading the attachment again.
Toggle MMS Retrieving Settings:
On Android phones, some messaging apps don’t ask the user before downloading a file. In some cases, this auto-downloading feature helps people, while this auto-retrieving feature can be the root cause of the current issue. If you can’t download the desired attachment or MMS after restarting the phone, we suggest you toggle the Auto-Downloading feature.
In case, it is already enabled, disable it and try downloading the file again. If that feature is already disabled, switch it on, restart the phone, and the file will get downloaded. Here is how you toggle Auto-Retrieve settings from your android phone;
- Go to Menu of the messenger you use, i.e., Messenger, Whatsapp, etc
- Find Settings and click
- Go to Storage Data
- Toggle Auto-Download feature as recommended
Currently Unable to Download MMS? Clean the Cache
People often use messaging apps to stay connected with their work, friends, group of friends, and family members. People are having more group chats available in messaging apps usually face this issue of text messages not downloading or multimedia messages not downloading.
The reason behind this issue is none other than a pre-filled cache of the respective app. To resolve the problem, the first thing you need to do is to clean the cache of the messaging application you use. Follow the steps to clear cache or watch the video below.
- Go to the settings of your Android Phone
- Go into the Apps
- You will find MMS Services there. Click it
- Click the Clear Cache option
- Restart the phone, and download the wanted file again.
Android MMS Not Downloading? Switch to Alternative Network Mode
If your application’s cache is cleared and you are still facing the same problem, try switching to any other network mode available on your Android Phone. The path to switch to another network mode may vary for various mobile phones. Here is the most common way to follow;
- Go to Settings
- Dual Sim & Mobile Network
- Preferred Network Type
- Click again or Preferred Network Type
- Select any other Mode except the one you are currently using
- Restart your phone and download the file.
Message not Downloaded Android? Try Deleting Older Chats
Mobile users usually ignore chats that are large in number. After using a single cell phone for more than a year, without a factory reset ever, people face issues with messages not getting downloaded. The best solution to fix such bugs is to delete unnecessary chats available in your messenger. A year-old message with a high quantity covers up all the space in your mobile phone, and it becomes evident to delete them.
We understand that you can not delete some chats but filtering out the unnecessary ones is an option for you. Some applications provide a feature of deleting older messages when they exceed a specific limit. Here is how you find that feature;
- Inside Settings of the messenger application you use, go to more settings
- Tap on Chats History
- Tap on either Text Messages or Multimedia messages
- Turn on the text deleting option.
- Note down the number of texts allowed per chat to avoid further issues.
Unable to Download MMS Samsung? Turn Off Package Disabler
People often use applications that prevent the phone from suspected viruses coming in the form of multimedia files. Unfortunately, if you are using such software on your Samsung phone, that app is definitely not allowing the multimedia file to be downloaded to your phone.
Therefore, we recommend you uninstall the app for a minute. Then, download the multimedia file you need, and reinstall the package disabler if you desperately need it. Sometimes, you might need to toggle flight mode after deleting the app.
Free up Cache Partition:
Each mobile phone has its cache, while most applications downloaded on the phone come with their caches. As you have already tried clearing the cache of the app you use, it is now time to clear the cache of the whole mobile phone.
This will free up some space in the phone, and once you restart it, the file you need will get downloaded automatically. The path to cache cleaner can vary from phone to phone. Here is the most common approach in various android phones, including Samsung;
- Go to Settings
- Please scroll down to find Additional Settings and tap it
- Tap on Storage
- Here, you can clean the cache for apps, multimedia, audio, and other types.
- We suggest you go for File Cleanup
- This process will remove junk files and will allow incoming files.
Do not forget to restart once you do file or cache cleanup.
Reset Access Point Names Settings:
Your phone might be connected to an improper Access Point Name that disallows applications to download the necessary files. You must change or reset the APN settings to download that file quickly.
Again, the path to APN can be different on different mobiles. You can explore the Settings option available on your phone to find the related option. Here is how you will find Access Point Name in most cases;
- Go to Settings
- Click Dual Sim and Mobile Network
- Click on Either Sim1 or Sim2, depending on the network you are using
- Here you will find the Access Point Name
- Select any other Access Point except the one you are currently using
- Restart the phone and download the file.
Use Another Messaging App:
If none of the above solutions worked for you, we recommend you ask the MMS sender to send via another app. Before you ask the sender, try deleting the current app and reinstalling it again to give it a last try.
If the messaging app still doesn’t respond to the download request, using another app for the same purpose will work for you. Sometimes, an app channel prevents the transfer of a file correctly. Hence, we recommend you switch to any other mode of transferring files.
Factory Reset:
When you face critical issues related to android apps, and there is no solution working at any cost, the last option is to do a factory reset. Factory reset simply means bringing your phone to the exact same position when it was released from the factory.
This reset will remove all the applications from your phone that you installed. Only the built-in apps will stay on the phone. After factory reset, install the desired application first. Then, log in to your account, ask the sender to resend the multimedia file, and download it.
Please remember to copy your necessary data to some external hard disk or Personal Computer before doing a factory reset. You can always copy back the desired data once your file gets downloaded.
FAQs
Why is my phone not downloading messages?
There can be various reasons hindering phones from downloading messages. Some of these reasons are a poor internet connection, a corrupt cache of applications, mobile having no storage left, or access point issues if you use Cellular Data.
Why are my multimedia messages not downloading?
The reason behind the failure of downloading multimedia messages can be the corruption of MMS itself, low storage on your phone, filled-up app’s cache, slow internet connection, or disapproval of cellular companies from sending MMS.
Conclusion
We know it becomes a headache when your phone is unable to download an important file through a messaging app. As per our experience and research, our team suggested the most effective fixes for the (failed to download attachment from the multimedia message) issue.
We also highlighted probable reasons for disallowing the phone or app to download the file. If none of these solutions worked for you, then the file you are trying to download is either corrupt or too big to get downloaded.