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Surely you would just remove the said iPhone from iCloud?

Not that easy. My wife got an Android and because she read about all the problems she disabled iMessage, removed from iCloud, logged off her iTunes account on the phone and then sent a text via SMS, to an iPhone user. The reply received. Now all's well. We thought. Android arrived and since then she never received another text from iPhone users. Advisor in shop then suggested selling the Android and buy an iPhone again. The guy made then fun of her saying 'that's the iPhone virus, once an iPhone, always an iPhone'. Guess what, we don't think it's funny and the only solution we found is changing her number.
 
The main problem is that you cannot disable iMessage if you don't have an iDevice (anymore).

Solution: Create a web service to disable iMessage with your Apple ID. And if you don't have an Apple ID (iMessage works with only a phone number), create a service to call or text proving that you own the number and want it turned off.

It's easy enough that I'm sure Apple engineers know how to fix it. But obviously Apple support staff can't implement such a solution and therefore have no clue.

But the fact that they haven't solved this (after this long) warrants a lawsuit. What else should people do? Keep asking Apple support to fix it?
 
They've had plenty of time to fix this issue but haven't. The lawsuit isn't rubbish. Jobs would have had this fixed, he hated design faults even if it affected apple users leaving.
 
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.

After 45 days the number is dropped if the certificate isn't renewed, also Support staff can remove it by sending a verification code to your phone number. The biggest thing is the SENDING iPhone doesn't check the number every message sent, that would be a waste of data. It can take some time for it to check, OR have the SENDING iPhone tap and hold on a undelivered iMessage (blue) and tap Send as SMS, after a few times, it'll override it and walla problem fixed.
 
It's actually not retarded, its a valid issue. A friend of mine has his own business and relies on his phone to communicate with clients via email and text messages. A few months back he switched from an iPhone to a galaxy.... went through all the steps of unregistering his device, turning imessage off before restoring his old iPhone and still had this issue...

long story short he missed a bunch of messages sent to him from existing and prospective clients using iPhones. For someone with a small business that can be devastating for your reputation and bottom line.

So yes this is a real issue and I'm glad someone is suing over it. Watch Apple find a solution really fast now.

Email and text only is the worse way to run your business. These message can get loss or delayed and do get lost and delayed...
 
I dont have this issue as I have been a loyal fan since the begining. However, my experience is that when I send a message with imessage it will try to send it and if it cannot it tells me that it was sent a regular text message (SMS). So why does it not do that here? When it clearly realizes in the vast servers at Apple that a message is not delivered why does it not switch to SMS as it does for me? What am I missing here?

For some reason it doesn't know to switch to SMS. It somehow thinks iMessage is still active.

I switched from an iPhone to a Windows Phone last June, and knew to turn iMessage off on my iPhone and iPad several days before I switched phones. Despite that, I still had issues receiving texts after my iPhone was deactivated. I had to fiddle around on Apple's site and delete my iPhone to get texts working. Apparently if you don't know to jump through all those hoops (and even if you do in some cases) it still fails to clear your number from the iMessage servers.
 
Email and text only is the worse way to run your business. These message can get loss or delayed and do get lost and delayed...

that would be valid if it was 1999.....but its 2014 and more and more people prefer to communicate via text messages, email, and other electronic messaging means. People are using voice calling less and less. Of course he uses voice as well but most clients prefer messaging so what can you do.
 
Turning of iMessage has always worked for me, nobody has ever had trouble reaching me/had messages disappear into the ether, am I the majority or the minority here?

I have to toggle iMessage off from time to time. Each time I get a flood of complaints from my iPhone friends that they can't text me. I can see how switching phones could create a pretty significant problem for some people.
 
There should be a class action law suit against the people who still use Android that requires to do text messaging.
 
^this... Apple just needs to make the Send as SMS option enabled on all iPhones. This is the fix really.

Thats not a solution for people who use iMessage to message abroad. Ive had friends from the States say they have had stupid huge charges because of iMessage sending as sms. Only solution was to turn send as sms to off so it never sends as a sms which incurs huge text costs for them due to their mobile phone contract.
 
I read in another thread that if you change your Apple ID password, your iDevice will be removed from iMessage when you get the login pop up and don't login with the new password. Some way this works, others don't.

Personally I haven't noticed any issues with my friends who have switched to android. Maybe it's as simple as having the person who switched phones send texts to iPhone users to initiate SMS as the mode of communication. I've always had Send as SMS turned on, so maybe that's why.
 
So what would they be suing for? I'm struggling to see the financial loss with not receiving text messages. Sure it's a pain, but plenty of things are a pain without having an associated financial loss that you can sue for.
 
wow I dont even know where to begin with this. Put down your Apple pom-poms for a minute and educate yourself on the issue. my friend knows what he signed up for with imessage... what he didnt sign up for was for Apple engineers to screw this up so that Apple servers hold his number hostage once he leaves the apple ecosystem.

In general, do you know what iMessage did for texting at the time of release?

Why it was created? What benefits it gave to the consumer?

And, lastly, do you know the difference between SMS, MMS, iMessage?

Also, what happens with group texting?

(Sadly, I bet you don't know any of the answers... and, that is why you are where you are. Blaming Apple for user-error is preposterous.)

Also, you may help with this... what do you think Apple pom poms would look like???
 
I dont have this issue as I have been a loyal fan since the begining. However, my experience is that when I send a message with imessage it will try to send it and if it cannot it tells me that it was sent a regular text message (SMS). So why does it not do that here? When it clearly realizes in the vast servers at Apple that a message is not delivered why does it not switch to SMS as it does for me? What am I missing here?

Because you have send as SMS enabled. Some people don't. A lot of my friends abroad don't (and I don't) because they don't want it to send as sms because iMessage is free due to using data and wifi but sms internationally costs and some have gone wtf and shown me stupid high amounts on top of their usual phone bill just because iMessage gave up and sent as sms.
 
Juli Clover, you're making the same mistake that your colleague Kelly Hodgkins and Ben Lovejoy made over on Cult of Mac. The quotes "this is a problem a lot of people are facing" and "added that engineering team is working on it but is apparently clueless as to how to fix it" are from Pash's blog post, paraphrasing, not quoting the AppleCare rep. That's not clear in your article. You make it sound like the rep is calling the engineers "clueless".

This is really poor journalism. Quoting another news source doesn't excuse misquoting the original.
 






Personally i dont think this has been willfully done. And i honestly dont believe Apple just "stopped" working on the problem. When you buy a cellphone you agree to the terms and conditions, which does not guarantee 100% reliability obviously, otherwise everyone could sue Apple for any little problem. I guess this is a delicate issue and up to the judges to decide if Apple is to be charged for not fixing the problem "fast enough" or not offering a fix at all. The reason i quoted this as retarded is because the user automatically assumes that Apple's service iMessages MUST have a functioning forwarding mechanism (to SMS). The service runs over the DATA plan and not over the TEXT (SMS plan), therefor, in my opinion, it excludes Apple's liability for failing to deliver a functioning 'trigger' from DATA to SMS. iMessages remains a service just like WhatsApp or KIK messenger etc., that rely on a data plan. If a person sends a TEXT to another person, he must make sure his TEXT is actually an SMS. I really dont see that Apple can be made accountable for failing to forward a DATA text to an SMS text :rolleyes:
 
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Someone explain to me how this is a stupid lawsuit. This is one of the few lawsuits I actually support.

I have encountered this issue numerous times and it is beyond ridiculous. There are many people who are AFRAID of switching to another non-ios device due to this issue, and in effect, apple has locked these customers into their iOS.

Sign me up for this lawsuit
 
I actually called this the other day when the iMessage article was posted.

/pats self on back
 
Why?

iMessage which is Apple specific and provided for iOS devices. You switched to Android so thats your loss. Ridiculous lawsuit.
 
About time. I switch from android to iPhone a lot and the imessage issue is a huge pain. Apple should fix it. It's an issue, a huge issue and it's apples problem.

How is this a problem for Apple? iPhone users can always see if a message is not sent and can resend as SMS.

ALL iOS users (including senders and receivers) have the option to turn off iMessage.
 
There are many people who are AFRAID of switching to another non-ios device due to this issue, and in effect, apple has locked these customers into their iOS.

For this reason, Apple better hope that there is no internal email (waiting to be leaked) showing that a known fix has not been applied or that it has been prioritized lower by management. The punitive damages of the lawsuit could get very interesting if something like that were to be introduced into evidence...
 
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