Samsung S21 Message Notifications Not Working

After its release, Samsung Galaxy S21 users have reported from time to time that their smartphones have notification issues. For some users, notifications didn’t work, while other users experienced notification disappearing issues on their Galaxy S21.

However, recently in our beloved Samsung community, users began reporting a particular problem, which is not receiving message notifications on their Galaxy S21 devices. Some of them were also having issues with sounds in message notifications.

But that problem comes to an end today. In this guide, we will tell you how to fix your Samsung S21 message notifications not working issues once and for all. If we speak more specifically;

• If the Message notification icon has stopped showing,
• If Messages do not pop up, or
• If message notification sounds do not work on your Galaxy S21, this guide is for you!

Note: Solutions in this guide will work on any Samsung Galaxy S21 model (S21, S21 Plus, S21 Fe, and S21 Ultra models.)

Editor’s note: We created these instructions using a Samsung Galaxy S21 running Android 12. Depending on your device’s software version, some steps and menu positions may look slightly different.

Why Message Notifications Don’t Work On My Samsung S21?

If the problem is with all notifications, there could be multiple reasons for that. However, since the notification issue is only with messaging, the reason for this is that the messaging service and messaging app do not work correctly. 

For some users, misconfigurations in notifications settings can also cause such problems. But you don’t have to be worried because no matter what causes the message notification issues, you are going to learn how to fix it.

First, we will work on the message notification icon and pop-up not working issue. Then we will show you solutions to fix the message notification sound problem.

Fix 01: Make sure the Samsung messages app is set to default

There are a lot of messaging apps that are available on the Google Play Store as well as on the Galaxy Store. But the problem is none of these apps are optimized for your Galaxy S21.

That is why the pre-installed messaging app works best with your device. Because it is optimized for your device and its model. And has minimum issues.

Therefore, if you are using a third-party messaging app, switch to the Samsung message app to see if it works.

1. Open Settings > Apps.
2. Tap on the “Choose default apps”.

3. Tap on SMS app.

4. Select “Messages” from the list (2nd one in the image below)

Fix 02: Check Message Notifications

As you may know, you can change notifications on the messages app. What you should do here is make sure the notifications of the messages aren’t turned off. To do that, follow these steps;

1. Open the Messages.
2. Tap on the three dots at the top right corner and tap on Settings.

3. Under settings, tap on “Notifications”.

4. Make sure the toggle button next to “Show notifications” is turned on.
5. Also, to fix the notifications icon issue turn on the “app icon badges”.

Fix 03: Reset App Preferences

As we said in the beginning, misconfigurations on the apps can also cause the message notifications not to work. But that could be easily fixed by resetting the app preferences. Here is how you can do that;

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Tap on the three dots at the top right corner.
3. Select “Reset app preferences”.

4. On the window that appears, tap on “Reset”.

After that, you might have to select a home app when you tap the home button. If you get such a pop-up, tap on “One UI Home”

Fix 04: Clear Messages App Cache

Like any other app on your smartphone, the Messages app generates cached data to work efficiently. Clearing the cache partition forces the messaging app to rebuild the cache and can fix the issue.

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Scroll down and tap on the Messages app.
3. Tap on “Force stop”.
4. Then, tap on “Manage storage”.
5. Tap on “Clear cache”.

Once you have cleared the cache, open the messages app and send a message to see if the problem is fixed.

Fix 05: Make Sure the Messages App is Not Blocked From Notifications

Although you reset the app preferences, if the messages app is blocked from notifications, you won’t get any message notifications. Therefore, you have to make sure that the messages app is not blocked from notifications.

1. Go to Settings > Notifications.
2. Tap on “App notifications”.

3. Scroll down and turn the toggle on next to Messages.

Fix 06: Clear System Cache

System cache consists of cached data of system services. A corrupted or missing system cache can cause these services to work incorrectly. But we can force the system to regenerate the cache by clearing the cache partition. 

Read: Recovery Mode on Samsung Galaxy Smartphones

1. Turn off your Galaxy S21.
2. Press and hold the power button + volume up button for a few seconds.
3. When the phone boot into recovery mode, release the buttons.
4. Press the volume down button and navigate to “Wipe cache partition”.

5. Press the power button.
6. Confirm it.

After the cache is cleared, your device will get to the recovery menu again. Press the power button to restart the device.