I have a Samsung S7 (model SM-930F, Android v12), with OS version 3.0.1-s…official-herolte.
Problem: I installed the OS maybe two years ago and everything has been working properly besides the Phone app… it goes down when selected, every time, no matter how many updates the system goes through. I’ve never been able to use it.
The phone recognizes the SIM card when inserted - [edit 1]:
it shows the carrier’s name in the phone information
it does not recognize the phone number in the phone information
in the Network and Internet section, the carrier is shown for “Calls and SMS” and “SIMs” but when selecting the former the options Calls and SMS appears faded and unable to be selected (both show the carrier’s name)
[edit 2] The S7 also does not recognize the contacts stored in the SIM card when selecting Contacts.
Did this happened with other users? Is there a solution to this problem?
Did you ever talk to your carrier about this? Does the phone show “Emergency calls only”? Do you have mobile data working OK.
The phone contacts your carrier via “Access Points” they appear on the phone as Access Point Names. Threads on the subject have the hashtag apn and you can see common difficulties and fixes in those threads.
What shows at Settings > Network and internet > SIM (or Mobile data … or similar). Do you find your carrier’s name? Can you navigate from there to Access Point Names. Do you know your carrier’s published APN?
it shows the carrier’s name in the phone information
it does not recognize the phone number in the phone information
in the Network and Internet section, the carrier is shown for “Calls and SMS” and “SIMs” but when selecting the former the options Calls and SMS appears faded and unable to be selected (both show the carrier’s name)
Did you ever talk to your carrier about this?
I use this SIM on my primary (dumb) phone, therefore, its not probable to be related to the carrier. I have a pre-charge service but when inserting the card on the S7, there is a residual, 2GB of mobile data available per month that can be used.
Does the phone show “Emergency calls only”?
When inserting the SIM card on the S7 it asks for the PIN, which it accepts; in this moment I have the emergency call option; when the phone is screen locked the Emergency call is also available.
Do you have mobile data working OK.
I’ve shut the connection to my router and tried to use the mobile data by turning it on and send a couple of test e-mails; it seems to work fine as data used increased in a small quantity both times when observing “Network and Internet → SIMs, XXX kB used”.
Threads on the subject have the hashtag apn and you can see common difficulties and fixes in those threads.
Thanks for the tip, I will look into it.
What shows at Settings > Network and internet > SIM (or Mobile data … or similar). (…)
As stated, the carrier seems to be recognized all over as well as the Access Point Name in “Network and Internet → SIMs - Point Access Names”. No phone number recognition though.
Edit:
The S7 also does not recognize the phone numbers stored on the SIM card when selecting Contacts.
My first reaction to that is that the SIM card might be too old.
Do you think you could get hold of a “trial” type SIM card, or perhaps alternatively ask your carrier for a replacement.
I guess if I was planning to move my SIM card from a dumb phone to a degoogled Smart phone today I would alert the carrier as soon as I found any difficulty. The carrier might offer an APN reset to get things working but maybe they might not support swapping back and forth, idk.
This SIM car is relatively new, it has maybe a year; it replaced my 20 year old SIM card. It would be weird if it was about the card; I may borrow one from someone in order to test it but I’m skeptic… even without the card inserted, if the Phone app is selected it immediately shuts down, instead of cumming up with some sort of message warning that there is no card.
I could swear that I’ve done what you proposed, but I probably only stopped the app and did not try to clean the storage or the cache. I’ve done it this time as you suggested and for the first time ever I was able to use the god damn phone app! It seems to work. Thank you!
The only sticky situation that remains is that the phone does not recognize the contacts in the SIM card, I’m unable to see or import them. One fight at a time I guess
Regardless, I think I can tag this post as solved.
It may be that the Contacts app is responsible and does not perhaps look to the SIM card by default. In Contacts app SIM card numbers are not on an account (the general default, I think) but “Device”.
Nope, unfortunately nothing appears under “Device”. I must get hold of another SIM card in order to see if the problem lies on this specific card or is something else that I’m missing. I’ve experimented Fossify Contacts but to no avail; it does not even present the option to import from SIM and it not recognizes from start besides the associated with the e-mail account. Thank you for being thorough thou
Hi alley_cat, this issue with the Phone app crashing on your Samsung S7 (herolte) running /e/OS has affected some users, especially on older builds—try clearing the Phone app’s cache and data in Settings > Apps > Phone > Storage, and if that doesn’t help, consider installing a third-party dialer like Simple Dialer from F-Droid as a workaround; alternatively, you could try reinstalling the latest stable /e/OS build for herolte via recovery to ensure a clean base.
Thanks for replying. The user aidb provided a similar answer and I was able to make the Phone app work. Oddly, the system is not recognizing contacts stored in the SIM card, neither the phone number associated to it, but I can dial and make calls. I’ve yet to see if people can call me despite the associated phone number not appearing. If you have any more tips about this particular hindrance I’m all ears.
Conceivably the numbers recorded on the SIM card are not in a supported .vcf format.
Google have tended to draw away from numbers on SIM card preferring users keep contacts on their account.
Will the dumb phone allow to export or otherwise extract the contact numbers?
In my screenshot I just show the iconic view of the SIM card. There are other posts on the forum where use of contacts on SIM have been problematic. To see or use numbers there would probably require customisation of the Setting
“Default account for new accounts”
to now allow from Device. The exact path and method has changed with recent Android versions. Even this wording indicates that the numbers are expected in an account.
Nopes, I cannot extract the contacts via dumb phone; Using another regular android phone to produce a .vcf list would be kind of giving the gold to the robber wouldn’t it? I could expect Google to suck up the list? I think the carrier might do that in physical locations but it seems overwork for something that should be easier; all of these solutions would defeat the purpose of going back and forth between phones, which I intend to do.
As far as I’m seeing it, tweaking “Default account for new accounts” does not help, at least at first sight, because it only allows you to choose between device and other accounts; but even when “Device” is selected, when trying “Settings → Import → From SIM”, the card shows up as empty when its not.
I’m going to look into other posts as you suggested, maybe there something I’m missing. Thank you again partner!
