The HTC One M9 is now available from multiple sources in the United States, arriving at carriers on April 10, and even shipping a few days early for those who pre-order it on T-Mobile. Now that the device is in the hands of users, we are starting to get a lot of questions about the new phone. One of them is about WiFi calling on T-Mobile HTC One M9.
On March 1, HTC took the stage at Mobile World Congress and announced the new HTC One M9. The smartphone was leaked countless times before it was revealed, so it came as no surprise when it was released. It replaces last year’s One M8 and has many offerings to help it compete with the new Galaxy S6 and more.
When you first turn on your new HTC One M9, especially the T-Mobile version, you’ll quickly notice that the notification popup bar is already half full with tons of notifications that don’t disappear. If you want to make room for incoming notifications for calls, messages, updates, and more, you may want to turn off Lookout Mobile security scanning, uncheck usage information in the My T-Mobile app, or even disable WiFi calling.
T-Mobile is one of the few carriers that offers WiFi calling with almost any smartphone. Allowing users to make calls over a WiFi connection at home (or at Starbucks) and use their WiFi internet connection to make calls instead of using your own minutes and some of T-Mobile’s network towers.
While WiFi calling is a nice feature, it’s not for everyone. T-Mobile HTC One M9 puts WiFi calling in your face from the moment you turn it on. It’s on the home screen and there’s a persistent notification in the popup bar that doesn’t go away, suggesting you make a call over WiFi.
For those of you who want to get some of their notification bar back, or just disable WiFi calling so they don’t bother you all the time and don’t show up in your popup bar, here’s how. Meanwhile, disable the usage meter, which also takes up half of your notification bar.
Instructions
Our first impressions of the HTC One M9 were mostly positive, but we didn’t like the fact that there was so much going on in the notification bar right out of the box. WiFi calling was one of the first things I disabled and if you want to do the same, below are two sets of instructions to disable it.
HTC One M9 has tons of T-Mobile apps pre-installed right out of the box and they can’t be uninstalled. This includes WiFi calling app and feature. Start by tapping the WiFi calling notification in the pop-up bar and simply turn it off. This will end the feature and get rid of the notification in your popup bar.
You can also pull down the notification bar twice and tap the gear-shaped icon and go to settings, then find Call setting, swipe down and uncheck WiFi Calling. This turns it off and removes the notification as well. This much.
You’ll likely see T-Mobile’s usage notification reminder, along with Lookout Security scanning apps that have become irritating. That’s three notifications that are almost always visible, wasting more than half of your notification bar. This will show you how many minutes you’ve used, messages sent and more, but most don’t need it in their 24/7 notification bar. Go to the app tray and find the T-Mobile folder, select , press the three buttons at the top and select , then uncheck the option.
This same T-Mobile folder is where you can get into T-Mobile and manage everything. There is an option here to disable WiFi calling as well, not to mention you can turn on Lookout Mobile Security and uncheck the option to scan for apps. You might want to leave this on to protect your device, but the constant browsing and notifications can be annoying, not to mention draining battery life.
Turn off WiFi calling, uncheck some of T-Mobile’s persistent notifications, and get your popup bar back to see what really matters. Not what T-Mobile wants you to see. Stay tuned for more how-tos on the HTC One M9 as the April 10 release approaches.
