Attach contact to SMS/MMS

Sent the support the question why i cant recive or send contacts attached to a SMS/MMS! First reply i got two month after i open the ticket is a basic text with links to user guides etc.
Got a bit angry and sent a reply on the support answear. Got a reply that is not possible with Android!!! Why do he try to bullshitme? I did have a couple of Android phones before FP2 and it was possible to do on all of them!

As far as I know the function was removed in Android 4.4 onwards. Were your other phones by any chance running older versions?

2 Likes

I recently stumbled over the same issue, and after thinking it over, it seems now a bit logic to me why is not possible anymore.

Short: Android attaches contacts as a vcf file (since nowadays contacts may contain lots of information), but the SMS protocol doesn’t support file attachments.

See also:

1 Like

I did have a Galaxy A3 with Android 5.0.2 before FP2 and it was no problem.

1 Like

Interesting - and this was the stock android SMS app (or was it replaced by something Samsung customised)? Must have misunderstood the function being lost then. I’m guessing that on the Fairphone it’s going to be easiest to replace the stock app by something that does have that functionality. Someone mentioned that they think Google Messenger supports it (but couldn’t check…), if you want to use Google apps that is - and if Messenger plays nice with dual SIM setups…
Side note: Seems the functionality randomly got pulled from hangouts (see here), recently, so it’s anyone’s guess how long the feature will still be in Messenger.

1 Like

It was the app that was installed from begining and delivered with Galaxy A3. If samsung have made any changes l dont know.

I you open contacts in FP2 and choose share it, you got the option SMS/MMS. But if you use the SMS/MMS app and like to attach this option is missing.

Dont understand how Android think if they take away a useful function like this. Many of my contacts dont use Whats up like i do and i have to share contacts very often. And it was so easy to share with my old phone and a pain in the ass every time i have to copy and past a contact with my FP2.

You can share a contact via email or bluetooth.
As I wrote above, I think it might be difficult for the app to know which info you want to share. A contact can include several phone numbers, several email addresses, plus postal addresses. There is a lot of info in a contact. I think it makes sense to share a vcf file, which can include all that info, instead of a phone number (and - which phone number?).

Im not sure now but i think my other Android phones have shared a vcf file in the sms/mms app.
When im out of office and i need to share a contact with a client or recive a vcf file with contact details its problem to have a FP2.

Edit
I checked my Galaxy and it attach a vcf file in the sms/mms app. How is this possible when FP support say its impossible with Android?

I didn’t know that was possible, technically. Though I guess it must go via MMS, I still think that a SMS can’t handle a file attachment.

Edit: I did a quick Internet search now, and I found a couple of sites and forums that also say, standard Android apps can’t attach files (other than media files, in case of MMS). So maybe @Johannes is on a good lead that your other phone may use a custom app for sending text and multimedia messages.

In any case, I would suggest you use a third party SMS/MMS app for that purpose. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find something in your favorite app store. :slight_smile:

This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.