Visual Voicemail tab has disappeared on my Pixel 7

[a_wiseman]

Apologies if this appears twice - can't find the original, so don't know whether it's posted or not...

So, my Pixel 7 was playing happily with Visual Voicemail, but since Sunday it hasn't... By which I mean the tab has disappeared in the bottom of the Android Phone app. And the option to switch VV on and off has also disappeared from the Phone app Settings.

I have Android 15 Beta 3.1. But as far as I know, no Phone app updates and no OS updates happened on Sunday. 

Have tried rebooting the phone and also resetting mobile settings to no avail.

I've been in touch with Google. After been transferred three times on the chat they told me how to switch it on (via the non-existent menu item in settings) and then pointed the finger at O2...

[MI5]

@a_wiseman 

This is a customer to customer community, not O2, so we cannot access your account, sorry.

You need to contact O2.

Message them on Social Media. Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (X) (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) or give them a call on 202 or 0344 809 0202

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[madasaf1sh]

@a_wiseman 

I would be asking on the Android Communities and Reddit to see if this is a bug with the 3.1 beta update..   

And Google and o2 dont support Beta OS releases, hence going to the above... as with all Beta it is user beware, as they are usually buggy as hell, and some of the Android QP's have been buggy as hell...

[Catch]

Just wondering if you have found a solution? I've been experiencing the exact same issue with visual voicemail disappearing.  I'm on Android 14 Pixel 7 Pro.

[madasaf1sh]

On the main release of Android then you need to follow the below and its been a bug since 2022 across Android 

You need to try clearing the Phone App Cache and Data, and reboot the phone... 

Go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > Phone. Tap Storage & cache, then Clear cache and Clear storage. Restart your phone and try to check your Visual Voicemail

[Catch]

Thanks for that! Issue solved for me 👌

[madasaf1sh]

Glad it all worked for you  @Catch 

[a_wiseman]

I used the trick of clearing the cache and storage followed by a re-start no my Pixel 7. This added the Voicemail tab back in the Phone app and added the visual voicemail options to the settings. Result - or so I thought! A message on the Voicemail tab complained "Can't activate visual voicemail. Trouble reading SIM. Check if visual voicemail is on in Settings and try again." When I went back to the settings, the Visual Voicemail options had gone. So now I'm left with the voicemail tab, but no voicemail.

I then borrowed my wife's Pixel 4a (5G), which, because of its age will forever be Android 14. With the O2 SIM in here, after the same cache and storage clearance trick and a reboot, and some patience, visual voicemail was activated. I got the automated text from O2 and my voicemails eventually showed up in the tab, ready to play.

My Pixel 7 and the borrowed Pixel 4a (5G) are running the same version of the Phone app. So it's looking likely that either it's the Android beta on my Pixel 7 (although the problem didn't start just after a beta update) or something screwy with Pixel 7 and/or O2 settings.

I will take the advice and ask on Reddit to see if anyone else is having a similar problem.

Meanwhile, I now have a new problem. After replacing the original SIM in the 4a (5G), the Phone app still has the Voicemail tab but no settings, so I can't switch it off. (It's behaving just like my Pixel 7, except the SIM on the 4a (5G) is not on O2 and so doesn't support visual voicemail.) I've tried resetting the mobile settings, but short of a factory reset, I'm not sure what I can do apart from apologise to my wife and hope she can live with it..! 😞

(But the clearing cache and storage is a top tip and it looks like it has helped someone else :-))

[madasaf1sh]

@a_wiseman 

I would conclude its the beta release as it worked on a non beta handset, so your only option if you want to use visual voicemail is to opt out of the beta and its a factory reset.. 

I never had a problem with my Pixel 8 Pro with the beta software but looking on reddit a lot of people did such as NFC dying.

[a_wiseman]

Google released beta 4 of Android 15 this week with an update to the Phone app arriving on the same day. I installed both and then cleared the cache and storage of the Phone app and re-started. Sadly, this made no difference 😞

HOWEVER, someone on Reddit replied to me with a workaround...

I 'uninstalled' the Phone app. (This doesn't delete the app, but removes all the updates to it, leaving me on version 127.0.620688474.)

Immediately I did this, I received an SMS from O2 thanking me for activating Visual Voicemail. And when I checked the Voicemail tab, my messages were waiting!

Interestingly a Pixel 6 user is having the same issue and is running a stable version of Android. (And curiously an EE user has noticed the Voicemail tab has appeared in the Phone app with the same error message I was seeing.)

So probably not a buggy beta, but a buggy Phone app in this case...