Mini doesn't receive messages

My inReach was setup in accordance with all instructions, synced and updated after several hours of slugging it out with Garmin Express. Since Garmin doesn't answer phones on weekends (probably smart, since people only recreate M-F during office hours) I'm stranded by Garmin, again.

Test message protocol worked fine. Messages go out fine. Messages from my phone seem to go through without a ton of problems. My wife has sent 7-10 messages, in varying lengths, via various methods (SMS, replying to received messages, SMS to the displayed phone number from my inReach, and to the "email address" format.) So far, over the span of 25-30 hours, none have been received.

Also, it will not receive messages from other inReach devices.

I should have stuck with SPOT, I suppose. I still have a first gen device, it's been beaten on, dropped, frozen, gotten wet, and operated in a salt air environment for 7 years and works 100% of the time.

0 4693358 over 4 years ago

Sorry for not including this - AT&T is not a factor. Our devices are on verizon.

Out of ideas. Still sending messages just fine.

0 carleson over 4 years ago in reply to 4693358

Interesting reading on googling this issue, one garmin support page indicates that receiving messages can work better when tracking, so maybe try that. Source: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=uYtEoYIEPw9Hu6fLyWWdA7. After sending the Test message you are supposed to get a reply, did that come in? If Yes then good. If no then there might be some technical issue. Are the messages that are being sent to the mini showing up in the explore website inbox? If no then they should be. If yes then we're back to the technical issue. Garmin on this page suggests some troubleshooting and also information they would need for technical issue troubleshooting (once they are available). support.garmin.com/.../

0 4693358 over 4 years ago in reply to carleson

Carleson - thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it, and will keep trying with product support pages.

I did send a test message and was able to receive the reply. I almost stopped there with testing my ability to receive, I'm glad I didn't!

I will definitely try the tracking trick. Hopefully that "breaks the dam." Leaving tomorrow morning on a week long trip.

Finally, no - the messages I am not receiving are not showing up anywhere. Not the device nor the explore website inbox. The most bizarre of my problems seems to be intermittent reception of (non-AT&T) cell SMS messages, and have yet to receive any from an inReach device.

To cover the basics, as I know they are always worth slowly tracing to make sure: firmware is updated via Express; contacts/presets/etc., are all synced, unit is in very open sky and clear of obstructions. (While testing I've been leaving it outside in that area for several hours at a time to try and receive.)

Thanks again.

0 carleson over 4 years ago in reply to 4693358

That they are not showing up in the Inbox is curious, no wonder they are not getting to the Mini as I think this indicates that Garmin is not getting the message to relay. Have you had her try sending a message from your mapshare page? Enable messaging for it on the web, in the Social tab under MapShare settings. I just tested it for myself and it shows up in the Inbox tab as soon as I went to it. And then received on the Mini as soon as I checked the mail. This might be a high reliability workaround for her, I have tested this from my mapshare page on the phone mobile browser as well as desktop.

I notice I am not addressing the inreach to inreach, there is another forum question on the same topic going on right now.

0 Hammarsal over 4 years ago

Did you get this issue resolved? I'm asking as I'm having the same problems. Was recently on a week long trip. Was able to send messages but did not receive any, despite a number sent to me. Tet message send and receive worked fine.

Testing again now that I'm back home, still having the same issues...

0 4693358 over 4 years ago in reply to Hammarsal

I tried to post a follow up, now I see that didn’t work out so well.

I did get a “fix,” although I think it was more coincidence than anything, so no idea what actually worked. Turning on tracking seemed to “unstick” the message issue. The list of everything I did:

- Clear sky. I had that, even took it out on the end of a dock over water, but getting it into pure open sky may or may not have helped initially.

- Wait to have a GPS fix/location

-Then turn on tracking.

After that, it seems to work pretty normal. (I turned tracking back off.) FWIW, no AT&T issues, we have a different service provider.

0 twolpert over 4 years ago

The iR device does not have a “phone number”. You can’t send a message that way.

The thing that looks like an email address can ONLY be used for iR to iR messages. You cannot send e-mail to it.

You can always send via MapShare if the owner allows that option.

You can reply to SMS. The ability to do so has a limited lifetime - a small number of weeks. Always prime the pump by sending a new message when starting a trip.

You can reply to an email from the web page linked in the iR message.

The fact that they do not appear in the inbox is significant. This indicates failure to use one of the supported methods above.

0 twolpert over 4 years ago

Also note that the Mini is finicky about both GPS and iR connectivity. The device tries very hard to send a track point. Message reception is an integral part of a successful send.

0 1510062 over 3 years ago in reply to 4693358

just a tip iv found, you dont need to track. just go to the earth mate app and click on "more" then "my inreach" then click "check for new messages" and the text message that wasnt recieved drops in, not ideal but seems to work

0 twolpert over 3 years ago in reply to 1510062

This thread is so old that I'm no longer sure what the issue was. To clear the air about receiving messages on ANY iR device:

Messages to the device do not just "show up" on the device. In effect, the device must ASK the Iridium network if the network has any messages for it. This is known as an "active message check".

Active checks only work with a clear view of the sky. You cannot expect to receive anything if the device is buried on the bottom of your pack, if you are indoors, or in a narrow defile.

The equivalent of an active check is automatically performed any time the device successfully sends - whether it's a sent track point, a message or whatever. The acknowledgement to the send tells the device if there ARE messages. If so, the device does an active check to get them.

The device does an active check on power up.

The device does an active check once an hour, automatically.

The device does an active check when you ask for one manually - either from the device itself or from a paired phone app.

When you send a message (not a track point), the device automatically does frequent active checks for the next 10 minutes or so. This is intended to facilitate "conversations". Without this, you would send a message, the recipient would reply promptly, but you might not see that reply until the next sent track point or the next hourly check. It's 10 minutes (or whatever) from the last message you send. So the conversation will carry on as long as necessary.