I just recently upgraded my phone and had a weird issue which I couldn’t find a good explanation of how to fix, so I thought I would do a quick write-up of how to fix it so that other people can solve the problem if they encounter it.

Basically, the problem is that the phone was using the wrong sound for messages. This is because the Samsung Messages app has it’s own settings for the notifications which overrides the default Android notification sound

First, open the Messages app on your phone. Then tap on the three dots to access the options.

Then, tap on “Settings” option.

Tap on the “Notifications” option

Tap on the “General Notifications” selection, not the toggle switch, but the on the words as shown.

Tap on the “Sound” option

Select the “Default notification sound” option, and then click on back.

Now, follow the same steps to change the sound for “New Messages”.

Again, select the “Sound” option.

And, again, make sure the “Default Notification Sound” is selected.

That’s it. You are now done. You’re messages will now use the default sound for notifications that is set up in your Android settings.

Basically, the main reason I couldn’t figure it out, is that it wasn’t obvious that you could click on the text beside the toggle switch for “General Notifications” and “New Messages”. Basically, just a shortcoming of touch interfaces. I personally find them a little non-intuitive as it’s often difficult to figure out which elements can be activated by tapping, unless you just try tapping everything on the screen.