Google SMS Retriever API not retreiving SMS messages

Question

I'm trying to use Google's SMS Retriever API for Automatic SMS Verification. I have followed the directions here but my app is not receiving any SMS messages. Here is what I've done:

I've added the code in my activity to start the SMS retriever client:

    val client = SmsRetriever.getClient(this)
    val retriever = client.startSmsRetriever()
    retriever.addOnSuccessListener {
        Log.i("loginActivity", "started smsretriever")
    }

    retriever.addOnFailureListener {
        //Problem to start listener
    }

From the logs, I see this starts successfully. Then I add my broadcast receiver with this onReceive:

override fun onReceive(context: Context, intent: Intent) {
    if (SmsRetriever.SMS_RETRIEVED_ACTION == intent.action) {
        val extras = intent.extras
        val status = extras.get(SmsRetriever.EXTRA_STATUS) as Status

        when (status.statusCode) {
            CommonStatusCodes.SUCCESS -> {

            }
            CommonStatusCodes.TIMEOUT -> {

            }
    }
}

This only triggers when a TIMEOUT event is sent 5 minutes after the SMS retriever client starts. It never triggers for SMS messages.

Finally, I've registered the receiver in the Manifest:

<receiver android:name=".receiver.SMSReceiver" android:exported="true">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="com.google.android.gms.auth.api.phone.SMS_RETRIEVED"/>
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>

In terms of the text message, I am sending myself this SMS message: "<#> Your code is: 123456 verification hash: "

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I faced the same problem recently.

I figured out the problem was that I was using the production Keystore hash for testing in debug mode.

If you're running in debug mode, make sure to use the default keystore used to sign the debug apk.

The default debug keystore location is $HOME/.android/debug.keystore

As per the app-sign documentation:

When running or debugging your project from the IDE, Android Studio automatically signs your app with a debug certificate generated by the Android SDK tools. The first time you run or debug your project in Android Studio, the IDE automatically creates the debug keystore and certificate in $HOME/.android/debug.keystore, and sets the keystore and key passwords.

I recently wrote a blog post about this, check it out for more details.

Answer 2

Register the BroadcastReceiver inside SmsRetrievers addOnSuccessListener callback method, don't register in Manifest file.

val client = SmsRetriever.getClient(this)
        val retriever = client.startSmsRetriever()
        retriever.addOnSuccessListener {
            val listener = object : SMSBroadcastReceiver.Listener {
                override fun onSMSReceived(otp: String) {
                    Log.d("AppSignatureHelper",otp)
                    Toast.makeText(context, otp, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
                }

                override fun onTimeOut() {
                    Log.d("AppSignatureHelper","Timed Out.")
                }
            }
            smsBroadcastReceiver.injectListener(listener)
            registerReceiver(smsBroadcastReceiver, IntentFilter(SmsRetriever.SMS_RETRIEVED_ACTION))
        }
        retriever.addOnFailureListener {
            Log.d("AppSignatureHelper","Problem to start listener")
            //Problem to start listener
        }

Listener Interface is.

 interface Listener {
        fun onSMSReceived(otp: String)
        fun onTimeOut()
    }