How to eliminate the messages "SIM card removed. You need to restart the device...". Turning STK off.

Jolla Care -

Our investigations suggest that the cooperation of SIM Application Toolkit (STK) [1] and oFono [2] does not run smoothly on Sailfish 3 in the case of some SIM cards.  Our telephony engineers concluded that the following is causing the incorrect and harmful error message "SIM card removed. You need to restart the device..."

We are getting a UICC Reset command from the STK app (running on SIM). That's handled in oFono so it looks like a SIM removal (and re-insertion) to the rest of the system. The UICC Reset typically occurs with some SIM cards when crossing a borderline between states. Under normal circumstances, most SIM cards never send the reset command.

 

1. How to prevent the issue from happening

Sailfish OS 3.1.0

Sailfish OS version 3.1.0 can disable the STK completely. This should eliminate the incorrect "SIM card removed" messages.

The STK can be turned off  in the following way - you will need the developer mode and a text editor (vi) for it:

devel-su
cd /etc/ofono
cp ril_subscription.conf original_ril_subscription.conf ## save it! vi ril_subscription.conf

Add the following line to section [Settings] in the conf file during the 'vi' command above :

enableSimToolkit=false

Save the file. Restart the device.

 

Sailfish OS 3.2.0 and later releases

When using this OS version (expected in October 2019), it is no longer necessary to manually modify the file ril_subscription.conf as with OS version 3.1.0.

Under normal circumstances, oFono never enters the internal "SIM reset" state. However, if the problem occurs, indicated by the "SIM removed" warning on the phone display, STK gets automatically disabled by the OS until the SIM card in use has been changed or the phone restarted.

 

 

2. Drawback of having STK off

SIM-based services cannot run on the phone when the SIM Application Toolkit (STK) is disabled. These services include using mobile certificates and some operator-specific functions or value-added services.

Everything else keeps working, and there are no annoying pop-ups and battery drains anymore.

If your phone and SIM card have not had this issue then the STK will remain enabled in your case.

 

3. How long will STK stay off? How can it be enabled?

STK will be off till oFono is restarted (Sailfish OS 3.2.0 and later). In practice, STK can be enabled by restarting the whole phone or by issuing the following commands:

devel-su
systemctl restart ofono

 

In the case of Sailfish OS version 3.1.0 one needs to revert the change made to the configuration file:

devel-su
cd /etc/ofono
cp original_ril_subscription.conf  ril_subscription.conf
reboot

 

 

 

 

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[1] SIM Application Toolkit (SIM ATK, STK) is a standard of the GSM system which enables the subscriber identity module (SIM card) to initiate actions which can be used for various value-added services, typically offered by cellular operators. The SIM Toolkit (STK) is a set of commands or applications that define how a SIM card interacts with the outside world. The toolkit is usually programmed into the SIM card. The apps in the SIM can use the user interface of a phone that contains the SIM card.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_Application_Toolkit

[2] oFono is a software entity that provides applications with APIs to access telephony services (modem abstraction, network registration, voice call handling, short message service, SIM toolkit, and more.  Read more at:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/oFono
- https://github.com/intgr/ofono/blob/master/doc/overview.txt

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