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iOS 6 broke MMS (downgrade w/o SHSH?)

U

uRabbit

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2011
90
0
Lots of people are having issues over on the Apple Support Discussion forums. Was hoping someone had a solution over here.

MMS is broken in iOS 6.

I have tried:
- Resetting Network Settings.
- Double-checking all setting.
- Reinstalling unlockit.co.nz APN profile.
- Restoring to factory settings, setting up as new phone. (did not restore to that backup's iOS)
- Restoring to factory settings, restoring from backup. (did not restore to that backup's iOS)

So... this is just super. On top of that, it deleted my most recent backup from iOS 5. It still has the first backup I ever did with this iPhone, for some ridiculous reason...

Anyone figured this out yet?

EDIT: Turns out, Apple did it on purpose.

Is it possible to downgrade to iOS 5 w/o an SHSH blob? Or can I use someone else's? Download one?
 
Last edited:
MMS, seriously? Back then I was happy when they never took it on board.

why the hell do you need MMS? you have a freaking iphone in your hand. send an email, iMessage, whats app etc.

but you are right, it is way more convenient to send MMS, which hardly works, the other person gets a link to a website that he or she has to log into to see the picture you sent. best thing about this? it cost you money.
 
rikscha said:
MMS, seriously? Back then I was happy when they never took it on board.

why the hell do you need MMS? you have a freaking iphone in your hand. send an email, iMessage, whats app etc.

but you are right, it is way more convenient to send MMS, which hardly works, the other person gets a link to a website that he or she has to log into to see the picture you sent. best thing about this? it cost you money.
Click to expand...

Because there are still plenty of people out there without iPhones.

Sigh, didn't we have this argument before iOS3 hit?
 
The way I changed the MMS settings (iPhone 4 with iOS 6):

1) Put a SIM in the phone that lets you change the APN settings (i.e. from a carrier that allows it)
2) Go to the menu where you can edit the settings
3) Leave the menu open and then swap the SIM so that the one you want to use is in the phone
4) The menu may close, but you should be able to go back into the menu if you're quick enough
5) Change the MMS settings
6) Leave the menu and it should then work fine - as long as you don't swap SIM again

I had no problem using a Profile to set the APN settings for regular data.
 
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The Phazer said:
Because there are still plenty of people out there without iPhones.

Sigh, didn't we have this argument before iOS3 hit?
Click to expand...

and no email and computers.

oh wait a minute, you actually very often have to go to a website to actually see the MMS because it is a standard that never worked across the millions of different phones.
 
rikscha said:
and no email and computers.

oh wait a minute, you actually very often have to go to a website to actually see the MMS because it is a standard that never worked across the millions of different phones.
Click to expand...

MMS has always worked very well in the UK where "The Phazer" and I are from.

You either have a crap phone or a crap carrier (I suspect the latter).

The statistics show that over 1 billion MMS are sent each month in the US alone
 
Daveoc64 said:
MMS has always worked very well in the UK where "The Phazer" and I are from.

You either have a crap phone or a crap carrier (I suspect the latter).

The statistics show that over 1 billion MMS are sent each month in the US alone
Click to expand...

recently received one and I am on EE UK. Great procedure, had to go to that website, type in a cryptic username and password just to see a picture. it is plain stupid.

edit: it has nothing to do with the operator but with the standard itself. it is just not working properly and never has.
 
rikscha said:
edit: it has nothing to do with the operator but with the standard itself. it is just not working properly and never has.
Click to expand...

Utter tripe.

Something hasn't been configured correctly by your network or on your device.

"EE" is still just Orange and T-Mobile as far as this is concerned. You need to contact them and tell them that you can't receive MMS.

Their records probably show that you have a device that is unable to get MMS and so they're sending you the link instead.

My family has been on Orange for years and they have no problems sending or receiving MMS.

You think billions of messages would be sent every month if it didn't work?
 
Daveoc64 - I am on AT&T GoPhone. I was able to edit the APN before iOS 6. Where can I get another provider's SIM without having an account with them?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
uRabbit said:
Daveoc64 - I am on AT&T GoPhone. I was able to edit the APN before iOS 6. Where can I get another provider's SIM without having an account with them?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure of the easiest way for that to happen, but a T-Mobile USA SIM might work.

You could look on ebay for one.

A Pay As You Go SIM should work ok.

I think this will still work, even if your phone is locked to AT&T.
 
I would have to believe that this is an issue with the carrier and not the phone. Have you tried a sim card for another account ?
 
pugnut said:
I would have to believe that this is an issue with the carrier and not the phone. Have you tried a sim card for another account ?
Click to expand...
It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. Even on iOS 5, I couldn't send MMS texts to friends with Verizon (I'm on AT&T). I never tried sending a plain MMS to friends on AT&T, as far as I can remember, so I can't say for certain whether it worked on the same network... but I don't think this is a new development with iOS 6.
 
pugnut said:
I would have to believe that this is an issue with the carrier and not the phone. Have you tried a sim card for another account ?
Click to expand...

The iPhone allows carriers to control a wide range of features on the phone using a "Carrier Settings" file - one of which is the ability for the user to change the APN settings for cellular data and MMS.

In this case, the OP is using Straight Talk - an MVNO on the AT&T network.

The iPhone looks at the SIM inserted into the device and decides which "Carrier Settings" file to load.

In this case, that'll be the Carrier Settings file for AT&T (the iPhone does not know to distinguish between a regular AT&T SIM and an MVNO SIM).

Unfortunately, Straight Talk uses different APN settings to AT&T, but the phone (by design) won't allow the user to change them because AT&T doesn't want their customers to change the settings. That means that MMS won't work properly without a workaround.
 
Last edited:
Daveoc64 said:
You should have no problems using cellular data - it's only MMS that is harder to do now.

Even then, you can use the workaround I describe above with another SIM.
Click to expand...

I will have to get with a coworker that has T-Mobile.
 
Last edited:
I made a STEP BY STEP guide on how to get Data and MMS working on straight talk

I had the same problem with my carrier unlocked iPhone 4 on Straight Talk after upgrading to iOS 6. I figured out a fix that is working for many people with iPhone 4 (unlocked), iPhone 4S (either locked or unlocked), and even iPhone 3GS (unlocked). I put together a step by step guide of what I did including screenshots. I posted the guide here:

http://www.jgmedia.biz/how-to-get-data-and-mms-working-on-straight-talk-iphone-4-and-iphone-4s-on-ios-6-updated-sim-swap-method/

NO JAILBREAK NECESSARY. Just follow the instructions carefully and you should have MMS working again.

Why a company would make it so complicated to get a service you're paying for is kind of ridiculous, but whatever.

As for the GoPhone users... you're up the creak! I could never get data and MMS working with a GoPhone SIM no matter what.
 
JG Media said:
I had the same problem with my carrier unlocked iPhone 4 on Straight Talk after upgrading to iOS 6. I figured out a fix that is working for many people with iPhone 4 (unlocked), iPhone 4S (either locked or unlocked), and even iPhone 3GS (unlocked). I put together a step by step guide of what I did including screenshots. I posted the guide here:

http://www.jgmedia.biz/how-to-get-data-and-mms-working-on-straight-talk-iphone-4-and-iphone-4s-on-ios-6-updated-sim-swap-method/

NO JAILBREAK NECESSARY. Just follow the instructions carefully and you should have MMS working again.

Why a company would make it so complicated to get a service you're paying for is kind of ridiculous, but whatever.

As for the GoPhone users... you're up the creak! I could never get data and MMS working with a GoPhone SIM no matter what.
Click to expand...

I will be trying the method explained here when I get my T-Mobile SIM in the mail. If that does not work, I'll give your method a shot.

But yes, I am on GoPhone. >.<
 
Has anybody who has successfully done the SIM swap trick to make the settings stick thought about looking in their preferences.plist file and comparing it to what it looked like before doing the trick to see what is changing? Perhaps a before-and-after comparison would shed some light on a way to do direct-editing of the plist file again without having to resort to a clumsy SIM swap.

(I mean, what happens when T-Mobile finally becomes an "official" iPhone carrier? T-Mobile SIMs will be recognized by the iPhone and the trick won't work anymore, so we know that this trick has a finite lifespan attached to it.)

-- Nathan
 
NathanA said:
(I mean, what happens when T-Mobile finally becomes an "official" iPhone carrier? T-Mobile SIMs will be recognized by the iPhone and the trick won't work anymore, so we know that this trick has a finite lifespan attached to it.)
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. A "supported" carrier produces a carrier settings file and asks Apple to distribute it. There's nothing that says the carrier MUST disable the menu where you can change the APN. Many officially supported carriers don't disable the menu (which is how I edited it on my iPhone 4).

If T-Mobile did disable the menu, then you could still use a SIM from a different carrier (it could be from any country in the world) - they shouldn't be too hard to find on ebay.
 
Daveoc64 said:
Not necessarily. A "supported" carrier produces a carrier settings file and asks Apple to distribute it. There's nothing that says the carrier MUST disable the menu where you can change the APN. Many officially supported carriers don't disable the menu (which is how I edited it on my iPhone 4).

If T-Mobile did disable the menu, then you could still use a SIM from a different carrier (it could be from any country in the world) - they shouldn't be too hard to find on ebay.
Click to expand...

I am trying to get GoPhone to work again with my phone, thanks to iOS 6.

My T-Mobile card should be here this coming week. >.<
 
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