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Review Of 'Dual Sim Control' – Dual SIM Management App for Mediatek Based Phones

NOTE: This review was written when the app used to be called 'MTK Control'. So any references in the text to 'MTK Control' now refer to the app's new name of 'Dual Sim Control'.
I have been using chinese dual SIM phones for quite some years now and love the facilities they provide. I can have both my work SIM and my personal SIM in one device rather than having to carry two phones around with me as I used to. Also using the dual SIM solution allows both SIM's to be connected to the hands free system in my car so that I can make and receive calls on either SIM through the car system.
However, there has always been a downside and that is the SIM management facilities built in to Android. When making a call or text, when you press the send button a box will pop up asking which SIM you want to use to make the call/text which you have to select before the call is made. There is a facility whereby you can assign each contact in your address book to a particular SIM but even this does not automatically make the call using the assigned SIM. All that happens is that when you make a call/text the same box will pop up asking which SIM to use and the only difference is that now there will be an indicator next to one of the SIM's recommending it based on the SIM assignment but you still have to manually select it. Now I don't find this a particular problem when using the phone normally but it is a major problem when using the phone via the hands free system in my car because when I make a call through the car system the box still pops up on the phone asking which SIM to use which is a big drawback and means that the phone has to be accessible and visible while in the car.
However, I have now found a great solution that I have been using for about a month now and is working great. It is an APP called 'MTK Control' which is available through the Google Play Store and is available as a free version and a premium version. I would suggest testing it with the free version first to make sure it will work with your phone but if it does work ok then I would wholeheartedly recommend purchasing the premium version which is only 79p (around $1) and adds additional functionality like homescreen widgets etc.
So, what does 'MTK Control' do that the built in SIM management does not. Well, everything to be honest. Firstly it gives you toggle actions to turn each SIM on/off or to toggle calls between the two SIM's and also to toggle the data connection between the two SIM's.
All of these functions can be added as widgets to the homescreens in the premium version as shown below.
However the best part comes with the ability to create rules to assign contacts and numbers to a particular SIM and have that SIM used automatically with no user intervention required. This is done in the following screen.....
….where you can input a single number, a group of numbers using wildcards, an individual contact or a group of contacts and then select which SIM you want to assign this rule to. So the following screen shows that the contact groups 'Family', 'Friends' and 'Services/Shops Personal' are asigned to SIM 1 (personal SIM) and the groups 'Coworkers', 'Customers' and 'Services/Shops Work' are asigned to SIM 2 (work SIM).
There is also an auto learn function that can be activated so that the first time you dial a new number or contact it will ask you which SIM to use but it will then automatically create a rule for this number so that in the future it will be automatically chosen.
The best part about this is that it works seamlessly with the hands free system in the car. When I initiate a call from the car system the phone will automatically select the SIM to use based on the rules that have been setup. This means that I don't need to physically access the phone at all and it can stay in my pocket.
In my view this app does what the built in SIM management should have done from the start. The developer of the app is constantly updating it with new features and is very approachable and takes on board feature requests.
One word of note, as the title of this thread suggests, the app will only work with Mediatek based mobile phones and will not work with phones like the Samsung Duos range etc. I personally have tested it with the following phones:
UMI X1S (MTK6589)
Jiayu G3 (MTK6577)
Jiayu G4 (MTK6589)
Jiayu G4S (MTK6592)
I haven't used the text or data functionality so can't comment on that specifically but the call related functions and the calling rules I use all the time and have worked flawlessly.
NOTE: This app is now called 'Dual Sim Control' and is now compatible with Samsung Duos phones as well as MTK based phones.
I have no connection whatsoever with the developer of this app. I am just a very happy user of it.

Update: Edited top post to reflect this additional information.
I have now tested and can confirm that 'MTK Control' also works on the Jiayu G4S phone which uses the MTK6592 Octa-core SOC.

Hi,
Thanks Russell for the review.
I'm the developer of this app, and if you have any doubts regarding the app, suggestions, or problems with any function please contact me directly using the contacts available at the Google Play app page or (as long as Russell doesn't mind having his thread slightly hijacked) ask here.
Thanks

MTK on G4S
Russell_S said:
Update: Edited top post to reflect this additional information.
I have now tested and can confirm that 'MTK Control' also works on the Jiayu G4S phone which uses the MTK6592 Octa-core SOC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Russell,
I have a G4s but don't seem able to get it to work right, can you confirm that you are using the kitkat rom with this?
I have bound numbers with the app and with the system but still asks me for a sim when dialling via Bluetooth.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Hi,
Can you post the configuration you have on MTK Control, and on Android Settings.
Do you have any contact SIM preference defined?

Thanks for sharing.

joaormf said:
Hi,
Can you post the configuration you have on MTK Control, and on Android Settings.
Do you have any contact SIM preference defined?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
what info do you need?
I have some numbers as preferred in contacts (they show a little symbol and the sim card name next to them in the phone book) and added some rules also in mtk control, and slid the enable button on and it said always validate, but still get the box pop up saying which sim.
Let me know if you need anything else, and thanks for looking at it.

Bomberfrog said:
Hi,
what info do you need?
I have some numbers as preferred in contacts (they show a little symbol and the sim card name next to them in the phone book) and added some rules also in mtk control, and slid the enable button on and it said always validate, but still get the box pop up saying which sim.
Let me know if you need anything else, and thanks for looking at it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
try to remove all the preferred contacts in Android settings, and then set on of the SIMs as the preferred one. This way I think that the Android popup to select SIM should not be shown.
Then you use MTK Control entirely to select the SIM used to dial.
Please tell me if this helped.

is confirmed working on kitkat ?, I have huawei honor 3c. thank you
I confirmed that it works off sims, but not to create rules, always asked to choose sim, its free version. my phone huawei honor 3c

elmajor said:
is confirmed working on kitkat ?, I have huawei honor 3c. thank you
I confirmed that it works off sims, but not to create rules, always asked to choose sim, its free version. my phone huawei honor 3c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I've made an upgrade last week to improve KitKat compatibility.
However, the best is to try the free version like you did. There is also a grace period on the payed version (not in-app purchase, only on the full version) so you can always try all the functions and cancel the order to get refunded.
Regarding your problem when you say that you are always asked to choose sim, you're talking about a MTK Control popup or the stock Android popup? If it's the latest, look my previous post where I explain how to get the best experience with the Call Rules.
Regards

joaormf said:
Hi,
try to remove all the preferred contacts in Android settings, and then set on of the SIMs as the preferred one. This way I think that the Android popup to select SIM should not be shown.
Then you use MTK Control entirely to select the SIM used to dial.
Please tell me if this helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Sorry for delay, did a full reset of phone to make sure no other apps messing with it.
No sim associations are set in android.
voice calls set to always use one sim
Rules created in MTK control to use second sim.
Phone will dial via Bluetooth speech recognition and appears to choose the sim but call ends without ever connecting. No box pops up asking for sim choice, interestlingly if the screen lock is off the calling screen doesn't show either.
I can hand dial a number and it appears to choose the sim and show calling screen but uses Bluetooth for voice.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

Bomberfrog said:
Hi
Sorry for delay, did a full reset of phone to make sure no other apps messing with it.
No sim associations are set in android.
voice calls set to always use one sim
Rules created in MTK control to use second sim.
Phone will dial via Bluetooth speech recognition and appears to choose the sim but call ends without ever connecting. No box pops up asking for sim choice, interestlingly if the screen lock is off the calling screen doesn't show either.
I can hand dial a number and it appears to choose the sim and show calling screen but uses Bluetooth for voice.
Any other ideas?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you dial using Bluetooth the call is never made... but if you dial from phone with the Bluetooth connected it works as expected?
Can you send me the application debug information after replicating the first situation?
Thanks

joaormf said:
So if you dial using Bluetooth the call is never made... but if you dial from phone with the Bluetooth connected it works as expected?
Can you send me the application debug information after replicating the first situation?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Have sent as private message the debug log.
Thanks

Bomberfrog said:
Hi,
Have sent as private message the debug log.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
can you please try to increase the time before the call is made using MTK Control settings?
Try it with 0 ms delay or with a delay like 500 ms.
Tell me how it goes...

joaormf said:
Hi,
can you please try to increase the time before the call is made using MTK Control settings?
Try it with 0 ms delay or with a delay like 500 ms.
Tell me how it goes...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Changed the delay to 500ms and this has fixed it, now dials via Bluetooth speech recognition and call connects.
Many thanks for the advice and help.
Steps for anyone else having an issue.
1.remove associations in android
2.set sim association in MTK control
3. set a sim as default for voice in android
4. set time delay to 500ms in MTK
Thanks again

as remove associations in android?. thx

elmajor said:
as remove associations in android?. thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
In Android settings you can define one of the SIMs as the prefered one for a given contact.
This associations induce, in my opinion, a not very user friendly behaviour even .when not using my app.
You should remove them to make sure that my app can work it's magic without interferences.

xperia c
does it work on xperia c

kcube said:
does it work on xperia c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I believe that it doesn't work, but you can try it with the free version. I'm however preparing a new MTK Control version that will bring support to Android One and Samsung phones.
Join the Google+ community since I will announce there when it's released.
Thanks

This APP looks great but you clearly state it will not work on other phones, like my LG G3 so I was wondering if you know of any other APP like this that will work on a normal LG G3 dual SIM phone ?
Thanks mate

Block callers?

The phone app that came on my Phab2 Pro is not Google's and it doesn't seem to have any way to block spam callers. Anybody else have this problem & how can I fix it?
BTW, I tried installing the real phone app (http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google...gle-phone-7-0-140755802-android-apk-download/) but it fails with the message "Parse error".

I installed the Asus contacts and Dialer from the play store. It does just fine for now.

I use Truecaller app. I googled 'best Call Blocker for android" and Truecaller came up on top of several review list.

strawsy said:
I installed the Asus contacts and Dialer from the play store. It does just fine for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Asus contacts & dialer and, when calls come in, phone rings but no answer screen shows up. I can't answer the call. Ideas?

roebling said:
Using Asus contacts & dialer and, when calls come in, phone rings but no answer screen shows up. I can't answer the call. Ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still using it and I have not had any issues. Has it worked at all for you? If so I'd probably Uninstall apps that you've installed since. If not then maybe start with a fresh install and put that on first. Since you have the same phone it has to be an app conflict.

I use Google Voice, I will never give out the phone number that my carrier assigned me. I only give out my Google Voice phone number, you can block callers or mark as spam. I did like one feature that comes with P2P phone app, the ability to record an active call and it will record both sides of the conversation.

user profile said:
I use Google Voice, I will never give out the phone number that my carrier assigned me. I only give out my Google Voice phone number, you can block callers or mark as spam. I did like one feature that comes with P2P phone app, the ability to record an active call and it will record both sides of the conversation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too, no problems blocking with Google Voice. Problems with the cell line. Trash marketers programatically continuously dial all possible phone numbers, noting which are activated, without regard to whether or a not lines are cellular. Numbers that are answered progress to stage two, spam calls.

strawsy said:
I'm still using it and I have not had any issues. Has it worked at all for you? If so I'd probably Uninstall apps that you've installed since. If not then maybe start with a fresh install and put that on first. Since you have the same phone it has to be an app conflict.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried backing out apps but no joy. Wiped phone and now all works. Think the problem was related to removing the SD card last week to make room for 2nd SIM.

roebling said:
Me too, no problems blocking with Google Voice. Problems with the cell line. Trash marketers programatically continuously dial all possible phone numbers, noting which are activated, without regard to whether or a not lines are cellular. Numbers that are answered progress to stage two, spam calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, might have a solution for you. Back in the days before cell phones were popular, landlines ruled the earth with cassette tape answering machines. I would get the same trash and telephone marketers with their systems listening for the caller to say hello and connect you to their marketers, if no one picked up then their system would call until someone picked up. BUT! if that same system got a certain signal it would remove the phone number from their call list.
this link is automated recording of a disconnected or number not in service. Save this as your voicemail greeting, the tones you hear at the beginning are what tell their system that the number is not in service and remove you from their list.

How to block number in lenovo phab2 plus??......it has no option for privacy in settings and call details also does not show any options to block

Assign SIM card to a contact

Is there a way to assign a SIM card to a contact, either built-in or third-party application? I use dual sims and would always like to use a particular SIM for certain contacts, without the phone always asking which SIM to use. On other dual-sim phones, such as S10, the phone will remember the sim lasts used for a contact and will automatically use it again.

darkoroje said:
Is there a way to assign a SIM card to a contact, either built-in or third-party application? I use dual sims and would always like to use a particular SIM for certain contacts, without the phone always asking which SIM to use. On other dual-sim phones, such as S10, the phone will remember the sim lasts used for a contact and will automatically use it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings, wifi and internet, sim and network. On the bottom of the page is "smart callback", which chooses the sim card to use based on previous calls with the contact. That's the only setting I'm aware of

Harry Pothead said:
Go to settings, wifi and internet, sim and network. On the bottom of the page is "smart callback", which chooses the sim card to use based on previous calls with the contact. That's the only setting I'm aware of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, but that only works for calls from call log and not from contacts or Bluetooth dialling, which makes the phone unusable in a car.

Try this
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hb.dialer.free

Question Dual sim management

I have to ask you gurus.. this is getting annoying. i have one private sim, and one work sim.
i call and text with both depending if it is work related or not.
the way f.ex motorola/huawei handles dual sim is so much better, automatically using which sim i used last, for a call/text to a specific number.
but with samsung`s way of handling this, i have to edit each contact to select preferred sim to use.
am i missing something here?

Mine always uses /defaults to whatever sim i originally used to call a number. I can change to a different sims if I want but otherwise it just does it automatically

raul6 said:
Mine always uses /defaults to whatever sim i originally used to call a number. I can change to a different sims if I want but otherwise it just does it automatically
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i get a pop up asking wich sim to use?

buljo said:
i get a pop up asking wich sim to use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every time you make a call even to a number you called already on default sim? Are you using Samsung phone app?

raul6 said:
Every time you make a call even to a number you called already on default sim? Are you using Samsung phone app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, it was like that on my S20 FE also. every time i get a pop up asking which sim to use. i have to manually edit a contact to make it use the desired sim.

Try to use the TrueCaller application for default Call & SMS and it will stay with the simcard which one was the last used for both Call & SMS....mate.

The way Samsung used to have the dialler was with two call.buttons, one for each sim. That was much better than today.

Dual sim Whatsapp/internet share?

Hey, there's a remote location that I'm going to every now and then, and there's good signal only by a specific provider.
There's no good signal with that provider where I live, so switching permanently is not a solution for me.
I've purchased a second sim for when I'm going to that location, didn't try it yet but I wonder about using my Whatsapp with that sim.
According to the Whatsapp FAQ:
"Your WhatsApp account can only be verified with one number on one phone. If you have a dual SIM phone, please note that you still must choose one number to verify with WhatsApp. There is no option to have a WhatsApp account with two phone numbers.
If you attempt to frequently switch your WhatsApp account between different devices, at a certain point, you may be blocked from re-verifying your account. Please don't repeatedly switch between different devices and numbers."
About using one WhatsApp account on multiple phones, or with multiple phone numbers | WhatsApp Help Center
faq.whatsapp.com
Which means that changing the Whatsapp number every time sounds like a pretty bad solution, and I know people that had issues with this.
So basically I'm trying to ask for a possible solution here, I guess I need to:
1. Either be able to use the other number's Whatsapp with the other sim.
2. Either be able to 'forward' the internet from the second sim to the first sim.
I don't know if any of them are possible, but hopefully I'm not the first one to encounter that.
Thanks!

It would be ridiculous for verification to happen very often over SIM data connection. After all, people often travel using Wi-Fi, and WhatsApp still works, because the application only checks whether the SIM inserted into the phone is the one that was used when registering. Just turn on the internet via the second SIM, and do not turn off the first one despite the lack of coverage. At most, the battery will run out faster due to attempts to establish a connection from the first SIM to the mast.