5 Ways to Fix MMS Won’t Download Issue on Your Phone

Sending an MMS is a quick and effortless way to share a photo you just snapped directly to someone’s phone, using a native function provided by the mobile operator. It has been used for a long time so most users are feeling very comfortable and confident with this service. While familiarity and simplicity are strong arguments in favor of using this technology rather than smartphone apps like WhatsApp and Viber, MMS can sometimes be unreliable due to failure to download media.

Such problems are often temporary and can be resolved by simple actions that you can execute without any professional help. In fact, there are several things worth trying when an MMS someone sent you is taking a very long time to load. Knowing these simple tricks can spare you from the need to call customer service and allow you to send as many pictures as you want. That’s why you should spare a few minutes to find out which techniques might be applicable to your situation.

What is MMS?

MMS is short for Multimedia Messaging Service, and it is a standard part of mobile operator service since the early 2000s. This technology is very similar to SMS in almost every aspect, only it allows the user to send photos in addition to text. Since practically all mobile providers and all currently sold phone models support MMS, it is very widely used on a global level and considered an integral part of mobile experience. There is no need to download any apps to use MMS on a phone, but it may be necessary to contact the operator to obtain settings and activate this service.

How Do I Get My MMS Messages to Download?

If you are experiencing any problems when sending or downloading MMS messages and they don’t go away after a few minutes, there might be an underlying technical issue that needs to be addressed. When you get tired of waiting for the download to complete on its own, you should take the initiative and try some of the following troubleshooting methods.

Fix 1. Check the Network Connection

You don’t have to be connected to the internet for MMS to work properly, but you do need to have uninterrupted access to the mobile carrier network that provides the service. That’s why the first thing to check when media isn’t downloading is the strength of the signal your device is getting at the moment.

A weak signal might be sufficient for sending regular texts, but multimedia files require a higher data bandwidth and could take a long time to load if connection is unstable. If the issue is caused by bad connection, it will disappear if you change your location and find a spot where you are receiving mobile signal clearly. You can also choose to reset your network settings to fix this problem.

Fix 2. Check the MMS Settings on your Phone

Another very common reason why MMS won’t download is that phone settings haven’t been properly set up. On some phones this feature might be turned off by default and you have to activate it in order to start sending and receiving multimedia messages. It’s also possible that your operator needs to provide you with a data package that makes your phone compatible with its MMS servers, so you won’t be able to see the messages until you do install the package. If repeated attempts to send or receive MMS had failed, that could indicate that you must change the settings before you can resolve the issue.

1. Go to Message app > Tap the Menu > More Settings.
2. Then, click on Multimedia messages > Check the settings and enable the Download automatically option.

Fix 3. Clear out the Cache on your Phone

If cash memory of your phone is nearly full, the device won’t be able to accommodate the incoming multimedia message, resulting in a delayed or failed delivery. This occurs more frequently on older phones with small memory capacity especially if they are running a lot of applications in the background. Clearing your cache memory from time to time can prevent it from filling up and negatively affecting the functionality of the phone. This action is very simple and can be performed from the Settings menu, while its impact will be immediate and sometimes quite dramatic.

Fix 4. Restart your Device

This is the oldest trick in the book, but it can solve a lot of problems with your phone. Restarting the device will instantly delete any residual data from apps and restore any software components that might have crashed or started behaving unpredictably. In situations where MMS won’t download due to a bug or software incompatibility, a simple restart could sometimes fix the problem. With this method, you could solve the issue without ever really understanding what was causing it, which has its downsides but absolves the user from having to understand the technological background.

Fix 5. Clean System Junk with DroidKit

There is a better way to keep your phone memory clean and your phone perfectly functional, with a tool that you can download and try for free. DroidKit lets you delete system junk from the Android phone very easily, and can perform many other actions aimed at efficient data management. This versatile app can be used for data recovery, system repair, screen unlocking and bypass FRP lock, without requiring a lot of technological expertise from the user.

One of the most important tools included in DroidKit is the System Cleaner mode, which can prove to be irreplaceable whenever a mobile device is not functioning as expected. Connecting your phone to a computer and running System Cleaner in DroidKit could be the solution for the most difficult cases of MMS persistently not downloading even if you already tried all other recommended methods.

• Clear 4 Types of Junk: Large files, cache files, APK files, and running apps.
• Support Almost All Android Devices: Mainstream Android brands and system versions.
• Preview and Select What to Clean: Preview and select what to clean with simple hits.

Now, free install DroidKit to check how to clear system junk on your Android phone:

Step 1. Open DroidKit on your computer > Click the System Cleaner mode.

Step 2. On the System Cleaner page, hit Start to initiate the process.

Step 3. Connect your Android device via a USB cable > Click Start to let the program scan the junk data on your Android phone.

Step 4. Preview and select junk data you’d like to clean > Tap on Clean Now to start the free up storage.

The Bottom Line

Whenever MMS won’t download and you have to guess what went wrong with the service, the frustration level can get very high. There is no reason to stress about this, since in most cases MMS service can be restored to normal with a simple action. In this article, we presented some of the methods that could be effective for fixing MMS issues, and explained when they should be used. DroidKit software is the ultimate solution you can always turn to, capable of cleaning system junk from Android device or iPhone in addition to several other useful functions.