State of MMS on Librem 5

It returns: 1.13.0

How about ‘/usr/bin/mmsdtng --version’. Just wondering if you have two installed like I did in the post where I said, “Seems to work for me. One point of confusion”

It still returns: 1.13.0

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Here’s what installed for me today:

Upgrade: chatty:arm64 (0.7.0~rc3-1pureos1, 0.7.0~rc5-1pureos1), mmsd-tng:arm64 (1.12.1-1pureos2, 1.13.0-0pureos1)

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To complete my story, SMS and MMS for me were unpredictable. Sometimes I could receive but not send, sometimes send but not receive. I contacted Purism support, not really getting anywhere useful. I decided to change out the BM818-A1 card with a new one (the original was from one of the first L5USA models), and this fixed all the problems I was having. In addition, voice quality seems improved over the original card. However, I don’t know if the original card’s problem was of hardware or firmware origin.

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Hello,
Just received my librem 5, and MMS are working.
It takes me time to understand that my isp put me in IPV6, and that mms proxy and port were not more used, and that APN for mms should be the same as the current APN used in global Mobile settings (thanks journalctl -f | grep mms)…
Once this problem solved, I was able to receive MMS. Three little problems :

  • I tried sending some photos, but resize within chatty produce a 1.1MB file and this seems a problem for the receiver. Where can I specify the max mms size ? Sending little files works. (for example, if I send back a 550kb photo that the sender sent me, it works)

  • when the sender send me a mms, it comes into a discussion “sender name and +336myphonenumber” (not very convenient)

  • I don’t know how, but sometimes in chatty, it displays the image. Sometimes it displays a link to ~/.local/chatty/mms/theimage (and I need to click).

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I tried sending some photos, but resize within chatty produce a 1.1MB file and this seems a problem for the receiver. Where can I specify the max mms size ?

Can you be specific on what the issue is? I have never heard of this being a prolem before. You can edit the value in mmsd-tng via the settings file, but I strongly discourage it

when the sender send me a mms, it comes into a discussion “sender name and +336myphonenumber” (not very convenient)

That’s a known problem. It actually wasn’t filed so I filed it: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/chatty/-/issues/777

I don’t know how, but sometimes in chatty, it displays the image. Sometimes it displays a link to ~/.local/chatty/mms/theimage (and I need to click).

That is a known thing.

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By way of example though, on the iPhone when I email a photo I get a dialog on the phone:

This message is 6.6 MB. You can reduce message size by scaling the image to one of the sizes below.

Small (98.5 KB)
Medium (230 KB)
Large (1.9 MB)
Actual Size (6.6 MB)

(For the record, those are not actual actual sizes but sizes after Base64 encoding.)

I didn’t check whether I get the same dialog when sending the image as MMS.

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to want that control, albeit that this is asked on every send (as far as I know), rather than just configured once by the user.

If nothing else, on slow connections, sending a large image ties up the sender’s phone and ties up the receiver’s phone. So if I want to send a smaller image, why not?

In some niche cases there may also be Intellectual Property reasons to want to send a lower resolution copy.

So

Why? Will it cause a problem?

To fix this I added in the section [Settings] of the file ~/.mms/modemmanager/mms

TotalMaxAttachmentSize=600000

Replace 600000 with the appropriate value for your provider

By way of example though, …

This scenario describes a UI flow you desire, instead of

and this seems a problem for the receiver. […] It doesn’t seem unreasonable to want that control, albeit that this is asked on every send (as far as I know), rather than just configured once by the user.

I have never used an iPhone before, so I have never encountered this UI flow. While not unreasonable, no one has ever considered it. I would consider filing a feature request in Chatty for it (or even better, help to create it!).

Why? Will it cause a problem?

Carriers have a limit for MMS baked in, and I simply don’t know what happens if you exceed it. They may silently drop it, reject it, I don’t know. The response above me shows how to change it.

I don’t know how, but sometimes in chatty, it displays the image. Sometimes it displays a link to ~/.local/chatty/mms/theimage (and I need to click).

As long as the file is identified as a file with some image mime type, it will be shown as an image.

Currently it is shown as a link if the message contains something other than an image (like message text, subject, or more than 1 attachments). This has been improved to show images even in the presence of other files/message text, which will be included in the next chatty release.

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Your 600k is a really good guess, up to this link (in french) . It seems the main french telcos (bouygues, orange, SFR) fixed a 600ko limit between them for MMS size.

It is working, many thanks !

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And T-Mobile and AT&T should handle 1MB in the US, and i imagine Canada and Mexico. To be compatible you almost have to pick the lowest number, but then if someone sends a larger file your carrier supports you may not get it - so chicken and egg. The setting shouldnt really exist and it should be negotiated between carriers.

https://support.bandwidth.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014235473-What-Is-the-Size-Limit-for-MMS-Files-Text-Messages-

I tried 500K to be on the safe side but for me made no difference.

After updating, click on a person with many Chatty messages from the list to forcibly terminate Chatty.

I tried to send a picture, L5 says it sent it but the android recipient received nothing. I have not configured anything for MMS so this is probably the problem. I thought it works anyways. But the strings of .mms/modemmanager/mms do not match the strings given here for my carrier: https://www.apnsettings.org/greece/cosmote-apn-settings/

I undertand that CarrierMMSC shoule be set to http://195.167.65.220:8002 and CarrierMMSProxy=10.10.10.20
but what is MMS_APN, DefaultModemNumber, IMSI found in mms file but not in the above link (or i do not understand which is which).

Also happens 'droid to 'droid, I’d think nothing of it. It may even turn up a day or two later.

but the default configuration says for example

CarrierMMSC=http://mms.invalid
MMS_APN=apn.invalid

These can not be correct. Can they?

finally figured out why mms cannot work with Chatty on the Librem 5, because it doesnt support mms over VPN yet. Thats basically the reason for mine not working.

There is a workaround a user has come up with for a different vpn profile from OpenVPN that i am using. Might give it a try sometime.

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And never will, as that means your operator’s MMS center cannot be reached outside of its own network. What mmsd will have to learn to make it work is to bypass VPNs.

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Would it work to add a route manually (that would reach the MMS center without attempting to go via the VPN)?

Never say never. :wink: I wonder whether carriers that support WiFi calling and WiFi SMS might eventually support WiFi MMS. However that could involve some untidy arrangement with VPN over VPN, or who knows what?