One of the most frustrating situations when using Potato is when you send a message and the other person says they received it, but nothing shows up on your end; or when verification codes don't arrive during registration or login. Don't rush to reinstall the app—most issues stem from phone settings or network environment. Go through these 7 checkpoints in order, and you'll likely pinpoint the cause.
1. First, determine whether it's "all messages not received" or "only verification codes not received"
These two situations require completely different troubleshooting approaches. If regular chat messages aren't coming through either, the problem is likely with Potato's notification permissions or background running. If only verification codes aren't arriving, then you need to check SMS interception, phone number status, and request frequency.
For example: Xiao Wang sent a Potato message to a colleague, and the colleague showed it as read, but Xiao Wang couldn't receive replies. After checking, he found that his phone automatically restricted Potato's background activity in power-saving mode, causing message push delays of over 40 minutes. After turning off the power-saving restriction, messages immediately returned to normal.
2. Check these 7 things one by one
- Notification permissions: Go to phone Settings → App Management → Potato → Notifications, make sure "Allow Notifications" is turned on, and that message categories aren't individually disabled. Some Android systems also divide notifications into "Normal" and "Important"—it's recommended to allow both.
- Background running restrictions: In battery or power-saving settings, find Potato and set it to "Unrestricted" or "Allow background activity." If "Smart Power Saving" or "Super Power Saving" is enabled, Potato may be frozen, and messages naturally won't come through.
- Network connection: Try switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data. Some public Wi-Fi networks block push ports for instant messaging apps, causing message delays. You can open a browser and visit a webpage to confirm the network itself is working.
- SMS interception and filtering: Verification code SMS may be misjudged by the phone's built-in spam interception, third-party security apps, or carrier services. Check the "Interception Records" or "Spam Messages" folder, and add Potato's sending number to the whitelist.
- Phone number status: Confirm that the SIM card isn't overdue, suspended, and that the SMS inbox isn't full. If it's a virtual number or secondary number, some platforms don't support receiving verification codes, and you'll need to switch to your primary number.
- Request frequency: Repeatedly clicking "Send Verification Code" in a short time may trigger risk control, causing subsequent SMS to be blocked. It's recommended to wait 5-10 minutes before trying again, and don't exceed 5 times in a day.
- Potato version and cache: Older versions may have push bugs. Go to the official website or app store to update to the latest version, then clear the cache in settings (this won't delete chat records), and restart the app.
3. If it still doesn't work, try these two fallback solutions
First, log into the same Potato account on another phone to see if you can receive messages or verification codes. If you can, the problem is with the original phone's settings or hardware; if you can't, it may be an issue with the account or carrier side. Second, contact Potato official support, providing your phone number, screenshots, and approximate time points, so they can check backend logs.
Additionally, you can pin important Potato contacts and turn off "Mute" for that chat, so even if notification permissions fluctuate, you can see messages in the app as soon as possible. For account security, it's recommended to enable two-step verification to avoid malicious operations by others when you can't log in due to not receiving verification codes.
If you haven't installed Potato yet, or want to switch to a more stable version, you can directly visit the official website download page and choose the installation package for your system. After installing, first go through the checklist above to check notification and background settings, which can save you a lot of trouble later.
