@thisissami This has been covered previously on the FORUM, but generally, VM is handled by the network provider, not the phone manufacturer. The network provider handles HOW the device is notified that you have a VM. Sometimes, the set up is seamless because if you buy a phone from a network provider store, all those phones sold in that store are already are set up to work with that provider.
I have it set that I get text messages if someone leaves me a VM. Since Mudita Kompakt does not have a notification tray by default because the goal of the phone is to limit notifications, our team is currently working on adding the MWI, so users can have a visual indication that they have received a message. I know that the legacy carriers, like AT&T,Verizon,T-Mobile US use the WMI (Voice Mail Indicator which is then tied to their OWN Voice mail system), however, Certain VoIP or MVNO carriers (like Mint Mobile) use both, you just have to ask them to activate it.
The way it was explained to me (so please excuse the simplicity: When someone calls your Mudita Kompakt & leaves a message, that message is NOT stored on the phone, like on an OLD SCHOOL answering machine. That message is stored in the cell carriers VM system and the cell carrier then notifies you that you have a message. It’s not the manufacturer of the phone that makes that notification.
We understand that this could be a bit complicated if you’re used to certain functions working a specific way. That’s why our team is working on making the WMI feature available in a FUTURE update.
That’s not necessarily true- although it’s not as SUPER popular as in the US- VM handling is usually done at the carrier level, so it’s not very easy to make it work with EVERY carrier. However, the WMI function will make things easier.
I suppose that I should have emphasized the use of voicemail in PERSONAL communication in the USA vs. Poland, based on this AI-generated answer (which certainly is subject to challenge!).
The challenge with saying that something has been covered previously on the FORUM is that not all Mudita Kompakt buyers have time, or even know, to search the FORUM for details about every technical feature that the Kompakt has with the current MuditaOS K.
Many of us expect to see details – such as the Kompakt currently having no voicemail message waiting indicator (MWI) – on the Kompakt sales page(s).
I will pass this on. As for VM in Poland, it’s still used. Maybe not as much as in the US, but people still leave voice mails. I get about one or two per week (generally from my parents)
Urszula, this is a terrible excuse. Notifications for voicemail is a basic feature of the simplest of phones. And seriously, do you realize these “legacy carriers” cover 96% of the US market? You guys are trying to sell to North America and have completely overlooked this basic necessity of phone communication? The same issues exist in Canada.
I have never once bought a phone from a carrier’s store. I have always bought unlocked phones that I have used with multiple carriers, and never once has voicemail notification not worked for me. It is a first with the Mudita Kompakt.
I also never once thought that my phone stored the voicemails. With every phone I’ve ever had, you call the voicemail inbox. But the phone tells you when to do so. I don’t have to actively check every day. It is the phone manufacturers responsibility to interpret the incoming notifications from the carrier so that the end-user can be notified. Please don’t tell me “It’s not the manufacturer of the phone that makes that notification” when this whole thread is dedicated to how users don’t know when they have voicemails because the manufacturer of the Kompakt neglected to make this notification.
This response you have given is pretty terrible. You guys have completely overlooked a basic necessity of modern communication. Just take accountability for it instead of making excuses.
Yes, it is. I prompted Brave with “How does a cellular carrier behind the scenes tell a cellphone that new voicemail exists?” and got this AI-generated response:
I am sure that Mudita can enable the voicemail Message-Waiting Indicator (MWI) on the Kompakt – as well as long-pressing [1] to accessing one’s voicemail – if Sunbeam Wireless can do it for its original three F1 flip-phones as well as its 11 F1 Pro flip-phones and its 11 F1 Horizon flip-phones:
I was in the middle of submitting a ticket through the Mudita Support site on this when I remembered there was a forum! Even the support site doesn’t search the forum or direct people there when issues come up.
Is there any estimate of when we might see this? I know it can’t be guaranteed, but having a target might help with decisions on switching to other devices in the meantime. I’ve had my Kompackt for just over 2 months and only found out about this today. I was surprised when I missed two calls and thought neither left a voicemail because of no notification. Out of curiosity I called my carrier voicemail number (not sms or email here) and found that I had 9 messages waiting! Thankfully none of them were urgent, but this could have been catastrophic. I can’t spend time calling voicemail after every missed call (especially with no quick dial option flip phones have had since the ‘90s). And with using the kill switch to turn off the radios this gets even worse, having to take extra time to check for messages whenever you use one of the Kompackts outstanding features.
@jrjkrall: I may be the earliest and most vocal poster here on the Forum about the need for voicemail notifications on the Kompakt. I sold mine last year because of missing group-texting and voicemail-notification-and-access features in version 1.2.
If you plan to keep your Kompakt while you wait for MuditaOS K to support voicemail notifications (when I plan to buy again), then in the meantime you may want to take one of these approaches:
Move your SIM back to a cellphone that DOES support voicemail notifications and long-pressing [1] to access voicemail (presumably also coming in MuditaOS K).
Change your voicemail greeting to tell callers that you check voicemail at such-and-such times, and then use alarms on your Kompakt to remind you to check for voicemail messages at those times.
It’s easy enough to imagine how this oversight may have happened. While sitting in the lotus position with palms pressed and eyes closed in concentration, the product owner(s) sat on yoga mats picturing the perfect distraction-free device. Into the box marked ‘evil’ went all notifications. This meant no notification tray and hence no message waiting indicators for voicemail.
Discussions on the mechanics of the voicemail delivery system is just clouding the issue to obsure a simple fact: Mudita blundered. Mistakes happen and most customers are generous and prefer to see companies just hold up their hands when things go awry along with a commitment to speedily resolve things. We are there now. We have upto Sept to wait. (I wouldn’t call that speedy, but c’est la vie.)
I searched the MK product page on the website and I couldn’t find a single asterisk or footnote explaining voicemail indicators are not currently supported but will be made available in Q3 this year. That little bit of honesty would earn Mudita credit, but nobody has bothered to add it.
That’s one of the other headaches, I don’t have a SIM card. My last phone was eSIM only so I’m stuck in that mode now. And I don’t want to have to go back and forth like that. (I really hate eSIMs for this reason!)
No notification tray, but on the Home screen there is an area that shows if you have a missed text (besides the icon on the SMS app). So some notifications are allowed and shown, just not all of them. As someone that has used Mudita Center, hearing a notification and having no way to see it drives me crazy. But I don’t even know what app had the notification to turn it off. No voicemail is the most glaring omission, but notifications in general can use some work.
agreed. Being a distraction free phone is wonderful, but at the end of the day, it’s still a phone. We get phones because we need to communicate with others. If the phone can’t notify us that there is a message for us, how the heck will a user know? It should be the user that decides how they want to be notified, not the phone manufacturer that makes it so that you don’t get ANY notifications except for phone calls and SMS. It’s great that it’s like that by default, but then if the user chooses to install other apps with notifications (e.g. Signal, or a task management/calendar app), the phone should allow those apps to make the notifications.
The Kompakt is still way better at being distraction free than any other phone out there. Simply not allowing notifications period is just a frustrating experience that makes me like the phone far less. I hate having to open the 3-4 different apps that I need and have installed to see “have I gotten anything here?” It adds annoyance to my days, and makes it so I actually waste more time on my phone (since I have to open every single app one at a time (which right there increases the chance of distraction) rather than just being able to look at one single screen and see “is there anything high priority for me to check right now?”
Just using Android Notification History might be the simplest way around this. Leaving the option to turn it on and off if users don’t want it would allow for the minimalist theme.
I agree that not having notifications is more distracting than having them. If I know that my phone will only give me a notification when there is something that truly needs my attention, then I don’t have to think about checking it. Ever. Do I want a notification when my favorite doodad is on sale, or a new dumb video has been uploaded? No. Do I want a notification when my dad’s care provider is trying to reach me? Yes. If I don’t have notifications and I’m worried about hearing from her, I’m going to be thinking about it and checking all the time. I should have control over what I consider to be worthy of immediate attention.
Exactly. Nobody buying the Kompakt is installing Tik Tok, IG, SnapChat, and a bunch of games that are constantly vying for your attention with needless notifications. And if somebody wanted that… well let them! The manufacturer shouldn’t decide for the user what is/isn’t worthy of a notification.
If I own bought this phone for work, and my work used Slack and I installed that on my phone, it better tell me when I have notifications. I can mute channels I don’t want within Slack so I can control that.
If I’m part of an open source development project that communicates over Telegram, that should be able to give me notifications.
If I use Signal for communication (something I actually do) because I need voice notes and the Kompakt doesn’t support that natively, well you better believe I want to be notified when I get a message from a friend. That’s the basic function of a phone lol.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but Mudita - if you are going to offer a phone with Android and the ability to sideload apps, 100% of your customers will expect those apps to notify them like they would on any other device. Like my complaint with voicemail or voice notes: you guys had zero information on your website saying “oh btw we disable all notifications always because that’s our philosophical opinion and we’re going to force that on you.” This is basic functionality that everybody expects, and to not have notifications without any disclosure of that ahead of somebody buying the phone is, in my opinion, quite dishonest.
