Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

This isn't a problem that I used to have on my old GS3. I was able to send and receive MMS pictures with no problems. However I now have a new Moto X (2014) and all the MMS pics I get are very poor quality and grainy. It makes reading any text in the pic/screenshot almost impossible to read at times.

Everything that I've been able to find indicates that it's an issue with MMS being automatically downgraded, but I don't buy that because, as I mentioned earlier, this was not a problem on my old phone. I have tried various messaging apps (Google Messenger, Google hangouts, the Verizon messaging app) and they all have the same problem. My wife has the same issue with her Moto X (2014). Similarly, she did not have this issue on her old phone which was some older Samsung with a slide out keyboard.

I'm really hoping someone can tell me how to fix this so I can again receive MMS in proper quality.

And no, sending the pictures via email, social media, etc. is not a "fix". This is something that used to work and now doesn't. I shouldn't have to force my friend to send me a picture through some other means when texting used to work just fine in the past.

I should also add that my friend receives my pictures clearly with no quality issues. I am not sure if that is because he has a different carrier (AT&T) or because he has an iPhone. My wife on Verizon with a Moto X (2014) receives blurry MMS from me.

Here are some examples of the bad quality (all sent from my friend with an iPhone on AT&T):

http://i.imgur.com/knqbgx0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vSueQWZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4xe7LER.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qrcEGmG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0cMZ6fF.jpg

Here is an example from a friend using an LG G3:

http://i.imgur.com/8vmjmh9.jpg

Here is a screenshot of the image quality when my iPhone friend sent me a message in GroupMe:

http://i.imgur.com/5swTCuj.png

As you can see, the image quality is A LOT better when sent through GroupMe.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

So Textra was basically the one texting app I hadn't tried yet so for kicks and giggles I tried it out. And it fixed it! I don't know why, but texts received in Textra are perfect quality. This makes no sense to me. Why would Textra be the only app that receives high quality MMS? At least I know there isn't anything wrong with my phone since it is clearly capable of receiving higher quality MMS.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep
goaliedude3919,

This certainly is an interesting issue. We want you able to receive quality pictures via text. Is the quality affected with every single picture, from every single contact? Do you have the same quality issues if you send a picture to yourself?

SandyS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the "Correct Answer" button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!
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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

Sorry for taking so long to respond, I was having issues accessing this account again.

This happens with every single picture that I've received on my new phone, even when I send myself a picture.

When I got my new phone, my old texts had been transferred from my old Samsung Galaxy S3 to my new Moto X 2014. I went back and found a text from September 28, which was the last day I had my old phone (I upgraded September 29th). All pictures pre Sept. 29 were perfectly clear. All texts post Sept. 29 are blurry. Here are examples of similar pictures sent to me both before and after the upgrade.

Before:

http://i.imgur.com/JFvFbxG.png

After:

http://i.imgur.com/RfHkSsF.png

Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
AZSALUKI
Legend

try using a different messaging app (hangouts or an sms/mms app from the market) for a day and have someone send a few pics. maybe the stock moto messenger app compresses the incoming and outgoing messages more than others do. they all compress the message (you just can't send or receive a 2mb data file over mms), but some do it to much more degree.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

From my original post:

"I have tried various messaging apps (Google Messenger, Google hangouts, the Verizon messaging app) and they all have the same problem."

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

And just to clarify, the person who sent me the pictures I posted for the before and after, he was using the same phone. We are both using the same carrier. He used the same messaging app to send the picture and I was using the same message app both before and after the upgrade. So literally the only thing that changed between the two pictures was the phone I was using to receive the picture.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
Snn5
Legend

Have you cleaned out and deleted all long threads or all messages completely?  Is it possible something didn't transfer correctly from the older phones which may have compressed the photos to fit the old phones' resolutions and that the app is bogged down?

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
goaliedude3919
Enthusiast - Level 2

When I said we were using the same carrier, I meant that neither of our carriers had changed. Sorry for any confusion about that. So I'm obviously still using Verizon and he's still using AT&T. There were no changes there was what I was trying to get across.

I have not cleared out the messaging cache or anything like that. I would really prefer not to lose all my past text history. If it was an issue with that, wouldn't a text thread with someone I don't text much work fine? I have had someone who has never texted me before send me a picture and that came through blurry as well.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
Snn5
Legend

Well, I have had good success with SMS Backup in the Play Store.  It will backup to email, cloud, phone wherever.  Theres always a risk, but you might try to back them all up and then wipe out the texts, which might take well over an hour or more and the phone will freeze up pretty much the entire time.  Then test MMS again after a reboot.  If nothing else, you'll have backups and can import them just the same using the app.

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Re: Why are incoming MMS pictures blurry and pixelated?
Snn5
Legend
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