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.
This is hard to wrap one’s head around, but every phone is unique—not the same as everyone else’s mobile device-even though we seem to think they're all the same.[1] They're not the same. Right there is the disconnect, right there, one of tens of thousands of disconnects! (-; (As a funny, aside comment: we humans are totally unique-just like everyone else. See how funny and convoluted it is? The same thing is happening to our mobile devices as we're customizing 'em.)
There seems to be three or four players that I need to be aware of:
1) the human,
2) the V V M app (spaces make it look like “V V” and not “W”),
3) Android,
4) and TMobile.
Each has its own data store. Whether the stores are actually separated or not from each other, don't worry about it: it matters, but it doesn't matter. "Treat them as if they ARE all separate," and you'll be in a better place and a clearer state of mind and in a better state for understanding what the heck is going on. (-; again!
Here’s the basic, basic, base, base tech suggestion approach I always remember and which I remember to remember:
Restablecer TODO the players, then restart. Get everyone to ground zero, and go back to and pass GO! once again, for the first time.
¿Por qué?
Because after you've put all your efforts into getting everyone to ground zero, it's when everyone can reasonably expect everyone to be starting from ground zero. It's when all four players ARE at ground zero, all players EXPECT all others players to be at ground zero, all old baggage (ideally) has been trashed and it no longer exists, and everyone plays with everyone else the best, easiest, and friendliest way possible. Nobody knows if others have been reset or not, and it doesn't matter, if all the old baggage is gone. We've cut 'em off at the pass, circled around back to the start, and started all over again, fresh. Repeating a fresh restart, once again, for the first time. <:shaking my head:>
When you get everyone to ground zero, 100% of their history—thinking of it as baggage-goes away. Baggage is almost always a problem, and nobody knows what everybody else's baggage is… or isn't, unless it's zero. By getting rid of the baggage, all four players start playing with no baggage! Everybody can talk to each other the clearest manner possible. Right there you can see how your efforts to get them all to ground zero starts paying off. If you DON’T put effort into getting everyone to ground zero, well, respectfully, then, you can go look in the mirror to see where the problem is. ;-)
1) Reset how you think about what's happening-be open to learning. That's your reset-your “Getting rid of your baggage.”
2) Delete the V V M app. Restart Android. Reinstall the V V M app (yeah, delete, restart, reinstall, because you don't know if the DELETE best deletes everything, or if better deletions come from the housekeeping from the restart process. Every mobile device is unique, and its rabbit hole is pretty complicated.[1])
3) You already restarted Android, right?
4) Give 611, mobile support, a call, and ask them to reset voicemail as @ozozznozzy has been saying.
Hoping this helps, of course.
D. P.
Henderson, NV
