LG announced its departure from the mobile smartphone industry in 2021 but it's still got a ton of handsets being used on US carriers, ranging from the LG Wing to the LG Stylo 6 and everything in-between. If you are using an LG phone on T-Mobile you may have come across the “LG IMS has stopped” bug which crashes your handset and basically makes it unusable. While LG and T-Mobile are working on fixing the issue, one intrepid Redditor has posted a fix that appears to be working on some affected phones, and we've got the steps for you to follow.
Updated May 24th: According to The T-Mo Report, T-Mobile has rolled out a fix for the “LG IMS” bug that caused LG handsets on the network to crash and basically become useless. If your phone was affected by the bug, it's recommended that you restart the device so that the fix can be applied, after which it should start behaving itself. It seems that the issue was caused by T-Mobile tweaking something on their side, so there's no need to carry on glaring at your LG handset.
First discovered by The T-Mo Report on Reddit, the “LG IMS has stopped” notification began appearing on LG phones earlier today. The notification is persistent, which means that despite closing it, it reappears repeatedly and quickly enough to stop the user from performing any actions such as making phone calls, sending texts, or accessing messaging apps.
What is “IMS”?
IMS is short for “IP Multimedia and voice Service” and it enables voice (VoLTE and WiFi) and data communications on LTE networks. It's something that the end-user shouldn't ever need to know about, but sadly the bug means that it's come to the fore.
How to fix it?
Luckily, a Redditor has posted the following steps on how to potentially fix the “LG IMS” issue, and we've included them for your perusal below:
- Toggle Airplane Mode on your LG device
- Open up Settings
- Head over to Apps & Notifications and click on App info
- Click the 3 dot menu in the top right corner and tap on Show System
- Tap on com.lge/ims.rcsprovider in the list
- Depending on the version of Android, you may be able to Clear Cache, Clear Storage/Data/, and finally, click on Force Stop. If those options aren't showing, click on Storage Information to do so
- It may be that you have to perform the previous step more than once in order to fix the issue, remembering to follow the directions in a single process. If the error message pops up while you are attempting to clear the cache/data or click on force stop, you'll need to restart Step 6.
If the fix still doesn't stick but you still need to access your phone to use WhatsApp and other apps via WiFi, you'll need to either remove the SIM card or keep Airplane mode enabled and toggle WiFi connectivity on so you can still access the internet.
Hopefully, it won't be too long until LG and T-Mobile come up with a fix on their end.
It’s back for me today. Ugh. Tmobile says there’s nothing they can do and to wait for Lg to fix it
If anyone is still having issues with their phone, reply–I am contacting other carriers to see if they will be able to compensate us or cover any incurred charges for leaving T-Mobile. A mass exodus will either force T-Mobile’s hand or get us better service somewhere else.
I just contacted T-Mobil’s help on Twitter, and they said, “sorry, in a meeting, will help when I return.” when they returned, they said, “out for the day.” when someone else came, they just abruptly ended the convo with no fix. The agent told me I was given the incorrect steps—and then gave me the same exact steps, with the airplane mode.
The “airplane mode” fix is not something T-Mobile or LG discovered–it was something a Reddit user posted–as such, it should not be relied upon. It may work for certain versions of phones, possibly, if indeed the user was sincere–but T-Mobile and LG should not be using a Reddit user’s claim to a fix before their department resolves the issue.
In any case, the airplane mode does not actually work. At best, it may give a temporary fix.
It worked following the steps with the SIM card out
LG G8 thinq working OK now after the com.lge/ims.rcsprovider fix.
Didn’t work for me either. I went to a Metro PCS store and they had NO idea what was happening. One guy said “oh yeah, I just saw that online” No instructions or guidance from corporate, either. What a fiasco.
I agree with the free month of service comment.
I did everything i was told to do to fix my phone . that didnt work at all i even called the company and still nothing to fix the lg ims message that keeps popping up and it is a pain in the butt.
I THINK ALL OF US WITH LG PHONES THAT IS HAVING THIS MESSAGE SHOULD GET A LEAST A FREE MONTH OF SERVICE.. FOR DEALING WITH THIS BULLSHIT..
A month is crazy – I was told that the only fix was to purchase a new 5G phone…I want my money back!
the fix is broken my lg started it again with the message was good for 12 hrs or so lol
well, that didn’t work
didnt work for me eather…..did the process 20+ times