Avast Sheild Control and Voicemail/121

Hi All,

I will apologize now if this has been noted elsewhere, although I couldn’t see it.

I have “Offer to block messages” enabled in the message shield and it works fine, bar one exception. Befor eI explain, I have voice mail in my contact list with the number 121.

So the problem, if someone leaves me a voice message, I get a text to tell me so. When the text comes in I get Avast pop up saying:

Incoming message from an unknown number “Voicemail”
Message…blah…blah…blah…
Do you want to block all messages from this number from now on?
Block / allow

I click allow. For all other texts, once I have clicked allow the pop up wont appear again when a text from the number comes through. However every single time that 121/voicemail sends a text, I get the popup. It is blooming annoying as I have no idea anyone has left a voicemail unless I look at the phone to see the popup.

So question is, is this a bug or am I missing something?

Regards,
Nick

Hi,

OK, so let’s try something. Next time you receive that message, choose “block” and insert the number to some group. Then check what got added and if it is a number, add it to your contacts. Otherwise let me know.

Filip

I already have the number in my contacts, that’s what confuses me. Will give your suggestion a try.

Ok, I have deleted voicemail entry from my contacts, left myself a message and got a text. I then block it and add it to a group. Shows Voicemail. Doesn’t show a number. Do you need me to try again?

Nick

OK so the message doesn’t come from a number, but from a “text” sender. What you can try now is to add the voicemail to your contacts via your messaging app (tap on the icon in voicemail thread and select to add to contacts). This might help.

Filip

Hi,

Already done that and have tried again. Here is what I have done this time:

  1. Deleted Voicemail out of contacts.
  2. Left myself a message.
  3. Clicked on “Allow”
  4. Gone to the message and added to contacts
  5. Left myself another message
  6. Clicked on allow again.
  7. Left myself another message
  8. Clicked on allow again.

So obviously not working. Vodafone not the number for voice mail as 121, which it has been as long as I can recall. So added that to the contact and tried again, but still not working. It is a pain, Avast is fantastic, this is the only issue I have and afraid it is one that may mean not using Avast. I find it hard to believe, if it is not a setting or me doing something wrong, that no one else has had the same issue.

Nick

Hi,

I think that the problem is that you call 121 to get your voicemail, but the notification about new one comes from different “number” (where in reality is a text “Voicemail”).

If you want, you can try this:

  1. Create a debug file as described here http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=120274.msg928085#msg928085
  2. Reproduce the voicemail issue (message coming, you choosing allow).
  3. Go to Mobile Security-Settings-About-Send feedback and fill in (and send) the form with all checkboxes checked.
  4. You will receive an email with ticked ID, post it here and I will take a look at the logs.

Filip

Hi,

But surely the number/address is irrelevant. If I click allow it should allow it.

I will do the debug/report later today.
Thanks for the help.

Regards,
Nick

Hi,

not really. The “allow” should work only once (which it does). If the “allow” works for all other messages from that number for you then it’s a bug. It should ask you everytime you receive a message from an unknown number despite what you chose last time.

Filip

Hi,

Yep, I understand that. What I am saying is that it is a known number/name that I am clicking allow for. That is the issue.

Nick

I am not saying text is voicemail, what I am saying is that when someone leaves me a voicemail/message I get a text to say a message has been left. Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

Nick

Probably yes. Usually, you get texts from numbers like “123-456-789”. But you can also get texts from numbers like “Voicemail” or “Carrier advertisement” and so on and these numbers don’t have their digit representation and that is the issue. While you use digits (“121”) to get to your voicemail, the texts are probably coming from a non-digit number “Voicemail”. I will know more after I get to see the logs, but I really think this is it.

Filip

Hi,

Okay, after a dense moment, think I now get it. Just doing the logs now, but still suprised no one else has had this issue.

Regards,
Nick

Hi,

Ticket Id is VCU-407-13813

Nick

Hi,

I don’t see anything in the logs. Did you reboot your device after creating the file? It might be necessary.

Filip

Hi,

Yep did exactly what was said:

  • Created an empty file called “avast-debug” on your sdcard root
  • Rebooted phone
  • Left myself a message.
  • Text came through
  • Clicked Allow
  • Went into Avast and send feedback as instructed
  • deleted the file created above
  • reset phone

Nick

Hi,

well, there is not a single word from Mobile Security in the log which means the app didn’t pick up the file. That can have two causes, the device did not get rebooted or the file was created incorrectly. Don’t you, by any chance, have two SD cards or a big internal storage + SD card? If that is the case, you might have created the file on the wrong one.

Filip

Hi,

I can assure you I followed the instructions and created the file on the SD Card root. It was rebooted. The instructions say nothing about creating it on internal storage. File was created, used touch to do that so now it existed and was empty. I therefore assume the instructions are incorrect and the file should not be created on the SD Root. Can you point me to correct instructions or the location where I should be creating the file?

Nick

Hi,

well, it needs to be in the root of the SD card (or storage), the problem is the definition of what storage is on Android since it basically can’t operate with multiple storages. I think you can identify the root of the storage by locating path ./Android/data or ./Android/obb, on my device the paths are /sdcard/Android/data and /sdcard/Android/obb so SD card root for me is /sdcard and path to my debug file is /sdcard/avast-debug

Filip

Hi,

Will try that later, thank you.

Nick