Forum Discussion
Visual Voicemail using Default Android 10 App (NOT T-Mobile App)?
Hi, I have a non-Tmobile provided Android 10 phone that has native Visual Voicemail app. Can I get that to work WITHOUT using T-Mobile Visual Voicemail app? If so how? Thanks, Sujith
I was going to add this to another thread, but it was locked. I discovered a work around. (persistence was key here). Note that I am not an expert, and your mileage may vary.
- If the T-Mobile account is older than a couple years, the voicemail box (on T-Mobile's end) needs an update. In order to do this, the user needs to request that a T-Mobile rep reset their voicemail account. (completely reset back to new)
- The voicemail box then needs to be authorized for visual voicemail, which is done through the T-Mobile Visual Voicemail app. The user should not accept any of the extra services, as this will designate the Visual Voicemail app as the only usable external app for the T-Mobile voicemail service.
- Then the user must delete the T-Mobile visual voicemail app from their phone. This app blocks the voicemail user settings on android devices and cannot remain installed if the user wants to use stock or built-in voicemail services.
- The user can then restart their device and activate visual voicemail in the stock Google phone app.
I have tested this on a few different android devices, including a Oneplus 9, Oneplus 6t, and a Samsung Galaxy A50. So far, it works 100% of the time. This tells me that it is likely a T-Mobile software issue, but I'm mostly just glad that there seems to be a common solution.
Please like my reply if this solution worked for you. If you are not willing to do all these steps.. then unless you have a Nexus device or an IPhone, get comfy with the T-Mobile visual voicemail app. A lot of people have spent a lot of time looking for a solution.
ozozznozzy wrote:Lerimer wrote:Is there a way you can maybe do a video of it. I've tried this like 5 times with no luck.
I have completely different phones now on multiple lines (OnePlus 9 and Galaxy S22+) and Android VVM worked out of the box. I really think the most important part is asking T-Mobile to completely reset your voicemail box. Everything else is redundant.
T-Mobile swears that they did not block Android voicemail, and Google swears that Android voicemail should work with T-Mobile. Using that information, I figured that T-Mobile just hasn't pushed the updated commands to old voicemail boxes. Having them do a complete factory reset on your voicemail forces the system to update.
This is me making assumptions from a distance, having no experience working for T-Mobile IT. But it worked for me and people I know, so I must be on to something.
I couldn't get this to work with my Samsung Galaxy even after having a customer service rep reset my voicemail. Just curious are all the phones it worked on for you unlocked? Also what app did you use on your Galaxy S22+ where it worked?
Thanks for sharing anyway, hope one day T-Mobile just stops with all the carrier restrictions.
