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Apple Being Sued Over Phone-Switching iMessage Issue

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,524
30,823



imessages-250x294.jpg
Apple is facing a lawsuit over a long-standing issue that prevents iPhones from sending text messages to the Android phones of former iPhone users, reports Bloomberg (via BusinessInsider). Filed by a former iPhone customer, the lawsuit alleges that the user ceased getting messages from iPhone owners after she switched to a non-Apple device.

This is a problem that has afflicted many former iPhone users that switch from an iPhone to another device. After an iPhone is disabled, the users face an issue where iMessages sent from other iPhone owners are routed to a deactivated iPhone rather than being forwarded as a text message to an active phone, causing text messages to disappear.

Earlier this week, former Lifehacker editor-in-chief Adam Pash claimed that Apple is aware of the iMessage issue and unable to provide a fix. An Apple customer support representative told Pash that the iMessage bug is "a problem a lot of people are facing" and that the company's engineering team "is working on it but is apparently clueless as how to fix it."

These errors with iMessage have been a known issue since 2011, which is when the messaging service was first introduced with iOS 5. Apple advises iPhone owners to disable iMessages before deactivating their phones in order to remove the device from their system, but some users have experienced problems even after disabling iMessage.

Some users have had success calling in to Apple to have their numbers removed from the iMessage system and in 2012, TechCrunch detailed a fix involving unregistering products on a user's Support Profile, which has also worked for some people experiencing iMessage issues after switching to a non-Apple device.

Filed in San Jose California, the lawsuit is currently seeking class action status.

Article Link: Apple Being Sued Over Phone-Switching iMessage Issue
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/16/imessages-issue-lawsuit/
O

okboy

macrumors regular
Oct 9, 2010
243
452
I think reparations would be to get all those people another iPhone.
 
Y

yeah

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
978
291
Um, aren't iOS/Mac devices only allowed to send/receive iMessages? :confused:

Edit: I actually read the article and understand. That sucks.
 
Last edited:
O

omgitsbees

macrumors member
Jun 5, 2013
50
31
I'm going to laugh for a million years when it turns out that the real cause for their text messages not being "received" is because the receiver was just simply ignoring them.
 
M

mrbrown

macrumors 6502a
Mar 27, 2004
563
240
Springfield, Missouri
The engineering team is clueless how to fix this? Seriously? Just require iOS to send a "stay alive" packet every couple of days and if Apple doesn't receive it, the phone gets unregistered from iMessage until the phone is online again.
 
C

chiefsilverback

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2011
458
438
yeah said:
Um, aren't iOS/Mac devices only allowed to send/receive iMessages? :confused:
Click to expand...
That's the whole issue. The iMessage system recognises the now Android phone number as 'able to receive iMessages', so when another iPhone user sends a message to that number it gets scooped up by the iMessage servers, but they can't deliver it because the device connected to that number isn't an iPhone...
 
T

triphoniallc

macrumors newbie
Oct 3, 2011
19
0
Huh?

Maybe i'm just stupid but can't apple release an update to iOS devices so it checks if the number is still on iMessage or not??? And if it notices it is not getting iMessages anymore it gets taken off.
 
larrylaffer

larrylaffer

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2009
693
1,304
Los Angeles
mrbrown said:
The engineering team is clueless how to fix this? Seriously? Just require iOS to send a "stay alive" packet every couple of days and if Apple doesn't receive it, the phone gets unregistered from iMessage until the phone is online again.
Click to expand...

That's not a proper solution. Not everyone keeps their phone on all the time. There's no reason you should stop receiving messages, albeit late, just because your phone was out of range for two weeks, which it is when I go on foreign business trips.
 
E

edge3281

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2010
12
0
lawsuit

This isn't a retarded lawsuit. This has gone on for a long time. My dad switched to Android and it took me forever before I could finally send him text messages. I don't even know how I was able to get it fixed.

I also think it is bogus that they don't know how to fix this. They probably just don't care that they are inconveniencing a former customer. It can't be that hard to report a phone number as deactivated in the imessage system and then just start sending text messages to it.
 
L

Lava Lamp Freak

macrumors 68000
Jun 1, 2006
1,567
618
mrbrown said:
The engineering team is clueless how to fix this? Seriously? Just require iOS to send a "stay alive" packet every couple of days and if Apple doesn't receive it, the phone gets unregistered from iMessage until the phone is online again.
Click to expand...

They should give us a way to log into the website and purge our number from their server. I went through this last year when I got a Moto X. I tried all of the recommended solutions I could find online, but nothing helped. After a week I changed my phone number. Now I have both an iPhone 5S and a Moto X, and I just keep iMessage turned off. I'll never use it again.
 
happydude

happydude

macrumors 65816
Sep 2, 2006
1,197
795
a gasping dying planet
HenryDJP said:
Very stupid lawsuit. It's either a bug or an honest mistake. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

but it's a bug that apple hasn't acted on. no matter your stance or favoritism toward or not regarding apple, they are obligated to fix the issue. the phone number does not belong to apple, if someone moves on from the apple ecosystem and apple is making it so people can't use their phone number to the full extent, they should fix it. the fact they haven't lends themselves to be sued.
 
Y

yeah

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
978
291
chiefsilverback said:
That's the whole issue. The iMessage system recognises the now Android phone number as 'able to receive iMessages', so when another iPhone user sends a message to that number it gets scooped up by the iMessage servers, but they can't deliver it because the device connected to that number isn't an iPhone...
Click to expand...

Ah, thank you. :D
 
C

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
mrbrown said:
The engineering team is clueless how to fix this? Seriously? Just require iOS to send a "stay alive" packet every couple of days and if Apple doesn't receive it, the phone gets unregistered from iMessage until the phone is online again.
Click to expand...

Great. How many days do you have to wait until your iPhone acquaintances can automatically message you again?

"iMessage is seamless"
 
L

Lava Lamp Freak

macrumors 68000
Jun 1, 2006
1,567
618
larrylaffer said:
That's not a proper solution. Not everyone keeps their phone on all the time. There's no reason you should stop receiving messages, albeit late, just because your phone was out of range for two weeks, which it is when I go on foreign business trips.
Click to expand...

I've read that after 30 days of no activity on your Apple ID, your number is purged from the system. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but people on forums quote Apple customer support as saying it.
 
K

kwikdeth

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,140
1,709
Tempe, AZ
triphoniallc said:
Maybe i'm just stupid but can't apple release an update to iOS devices so it checks if the number is still on iMessage or not??? And if it notices it is not getting iMessages anymore it gets taken off.
Click to expand...

wouldnt the real problem here be that the sender doesnt have the "send as SMS" option enabled in their message settings? Seems to me from the description of the problem the issue here is not the receiver but the sender.
 
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