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I have an unlocked Nexus 5 handset bought from Google in the USA. I just wiped it and installed Android 5.0 on it. However, the UI to edit the APN settings does not appear. By that, I don't mean that the APN info is gone, I mean that the actual UI to view/edit APNs is missing.

If I go to Settings -> More -> Cellular Networks, I see only the 3 settings shown in the picture below: Data roaming, Preferred network type, and System select. This meant there was no way to get the phone working with my SIM card using only the stock Android installation.

Now, I was able to get on Wi-Fi, download the app Tweakker APN INTERNET MMS (removed from Play Store), configure the APN settings using that app, turn off the Wi-Fi, and confirm that I was online via the SIM card, using LTE. So the phone is working. But the APN view/edit UI is still missing from the Settings app, even after adding and activating the OCN MOBILE ONE data-only Japanese SIM card I have.

I googled the hell out of this in the morning, and there is every indication that there are supposed to be APN editing controls at the bottom of that "Cellular network settings" panel in Settings. But there are not.

Does anybody know:

  1. A way to get the UI to edit those settings to appear?
  2. Why they might not be there in the first place?

The only weird/unusual thing here is that I am using a US phone in Japan. I bought the OCN MOBILE ONE data-only SIM card from Amazon here. It seems unlikely, but I suppose there might be weird country-specific telecom regulations that for some reason make Android hide these controls on an unlocked foreign-model phone?

EDIT: I should have mentioned: this occurs with or without the (NTT DoCoMo) OCN MOBILE ONE SIM card in the phone. I even re-wiped the phone and re-installed with the SIM card removed to make sure.

Cellular network settings screen with missing APN UI here

(Click the image for its larger variant)

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  • It's indeed strange. I have Nexus 4 and I also manually flashed Lollipop 5.0, but I can see APN setting on the list. I don't know if this setting is controlled by SIM or not, but there is a similar case
    – Andrew T. ♦
    Commented Dec 9, 2014 at 5:23
  • Thank you for that link. No solution there, but it is interesting that the person having the same problem as me was also physically located in Japan. (I updated the post to reflect that I see the problem with or without the SIM installed.)
    – Mason
    Commented Dec 9, 2014 at 8:52

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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It seems the problem is related to GSM/CDMA network. As you bought the phone in US which uses CDMA networks, I kind of believe that the default setting is to use LTE/CDMA network.

You can change the preferred network type by:

  1. Dial *#*#4636#*#* (i.e. *#*#INFO#*#*)
  2. Select Phone info
  3. Scroll down to Set preferred network type
  4. Select the one with GSM (e.g. LTE/GSM auto (PRL))
    • In case it's already selected, select any, and select it back.
  5. Reboot the phone, and the APN setting should be back.

Source: Cyanogenmod forum.

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  • Thanks! That worked. Weirdly, the phone already showed "LTE/GSM auto (PRL))" when I followed your instructions. Nevertheless, I changed it and then changed it back, and after rebooting the APN editing UI did appear.
    – Mason
    Commented Jun 26, 2015 at 7:43
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If your device is rooted, you can use ADB to open APN setting.

adb shell 
su
am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings\$ApnSettingsActivity
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