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iPhone iMessage reverts to SMS
- Thread starter cschreppel
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Just a heads up for everyone here:
Got off the phone with Apple for a follow-up, they bumped me up to the second tier support specialist and after reviewing the case, he said that the phone should be replaced.
My wife is heading to our Apple Store tomorrow evening to get it swapped out. We'll see if that fixes the issue.
Got off the phone with Apple for a follow-up, they bumped me up to the second tier support specialist and after reviewing the case, he said that the phone should be replaced.
My wife is heading to our Apple Store tomorrow evening to get it swapped out. We'll see if that fixes the issue.
I don't think it is a hardware problem.
Fortunately my iMessage is working fine here in Canada (among my friends and family). However, my friend in South America who upgraded his Iphone4 to the iOS6 started to send and receive txt message rather than the iMessage we were used to use.
So before the iOS6 we were able to communicate with iMessage without problem. But now we are going back to Whatsapp. We don't want to pay for international txt msg fees!
Fortunately my iMessage is working fine here in Canada (among my friends and family). However, my friend in South America who upgraded his Iphone4 to the iOS6 started to send and receive txt message rather than the iMessage we were used to use.
So before the iOS6 we were able to communicate with iMessage without problem. But now we are going back to Whatsapp. We don't want to pay for international txt msg fees!
Check that you've got the update for Verizon's carrier settings: https://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/30/apple-releases-carrier-update-for-verizon-iphone-5/
Hi all
Just thought I'd update you on our findings. After speaking with AppleCare for a second time, they directed me to have the phone replaced at a local store.
Before the Genius replaced the phone, he did a DFU firmware restore (more thorough than a standard restore) and set up the phone as a new device. The iMessages worked. However, when we restored from an iCloud backup, iMessages stopped working after roughly 5 minutes.
We then replaced the phone (since that was the last variable we could test) and when it was restored from an iCloud backup, it started giving us trouble. However, when we setup the replacement phone as a new device, it's been working for a solid 3+ hours (longer than it has since we got them on 9/21).
My suggestion for anyone who has tried restoring their phone as a new device with no luck is to try a DFU restore with iTunes on their laptop or desktop and then set up as a new device. If that doesn't work, a replacement device seems like the next logical step.
It could be a corrupt iCloud backup (most likely), bad firmware, or some combination of both. It turned out that replacing the device with fresh firmware and setting up as a new phone did the trick. If it stops working again, I'll keep everyone posted.
Thanks.
Just thought I'd update you on our findings. After speaking with AppleCare for a second time, they directed me to have the phone replaced at a local store.
Before the Genius replaced the phone, he did a DFU firmware restore (more thorough than a standard restore) and set up the phone as a new device. The iMessages worked. However, when we restored from an iCloud backup, iMessages stopped working after roughly 5 minutes.
We then replaced the phone (since that was the last variable we could test) and when it was restored from an iCloud backup, it started giving us trouble. However, when we setup the replacement phone as a new device, it's been working for a solid 3+ hours (longer than it has since we got them on 9/21).
My suggestion for anyone who has tried restoring their phone as a new device with no luck is to try a DFU restore with iTunes on their laptop or desktop and then set up as a new device. If that doesn't work, a replacement device seems like the next logical step.
It could be a corrupt iCloud backup (most likely), bad firmware, or some combination of both. It turned out that replacing the device with fresh firmware and setting up as a new phone did the trick. If it stops working again, I'll keep everyone posted.
Thanks.
Happens on all of the iPhone 5's in my house. Sometimes the message sends correctly and for no reason the next couple of messages to the same person revert to text and then back to iMessage.
The problem occurs when you send a picture. When that reverts to MMS the charges are quite high per message.
It's not a phone problem. Everybody I know on iOS 6 or iPhone 5 has the same problem.
The problem occurs when you send a picture. When that reverts to MMS the charges are quite high per message.
It's not a phone problem. Everybody I know on iOS 6 or iPhone 5 has the same problem.
Thanks for the update cschreppel. Let us know if it continues to work. I'm hoping for a software fix in the next iOS update... I'm way too lazy to the DFU restore.
(Oh, regarding the data use issue... yes, I had installed the carrier setting update. A bit of searching seems to have tracked the problem to the Podcasts app. There are a lot of people having issues with it: http://tidbits.com/article/13304)
(Oh, regarding the data use issue... yes, I had installed the carrier setting update. A bit of searching seems to have tracked the problem to the Podcasts app. There are a lot of people having issues with it: http://tidbits.com/article/13304)
We never had the Podcasts app installed and didn't see any crazy excess data use on VZW - even before the Carrier Update.
Also - my wife's iPhone 5 has been running solid iMessages since the new phone and the restore as a new device.
So by restoring as new, you sign into iCloud on the new device and then go to the iTunes store and bring down your apps again. I assume when you sign in, all your texts/imessages get redownloaded, too. But how about Camera Roll? Does it bring down all those photos?
In other words, what do you lose by setting up as a new phone rather than restoring from an iCloud backup?
In other words, what do you lose by setting up as a new phone rather than restoring from an iCloud backup?
I would first import all of your Camera Roll photos to iPhoto, so you have them backed up. From there:
1. Erase All Contents and Settings (this will wipe your phone completely)
2. Setup as a new phone - don't restore from an iCloud or iTunes backup
3. You can either manually download all of your apps again from the App Store or insert your newly restored iPhone to iTunes and sync them. *** When you do this, don't restore from an iTunes backup either...have iTunes treat it like a new phone - I think it's the "Setup as new phone" ***
4. Texts and iMessages may or may not download...I've seen this go both ways.
From there, you can choose what music and photos you want to sync with iTunes (my wife had an iPhone playlist that brought down all her music).
Aghhh just sent 2 iMessages with photos. 5 minutes later it says sent as SMS. Another pointless £1.50 added to my bill.
All these workaround and fixes are not what is expected from apple.
At £700 for my phone I just expect the bloody thing to work.
All these workaround and fixes are not what is expected from apple.
At £700 for my phone I just expect the bloody thing to work.
I totally agree with you there. I'd call your carrier and see if you can get the charges reversed. Otherwise, turn off "Send as SMS" to avoid additional charges.
The problem is not t-mobiles fault. It apple's fault.
I have tried turning the SMS option off but then some messages don't sent at all.
When I look at my phone now, half the contacts are showing as blue iMessage and the rest green SMS. I know they are all capable of receiving iMessages.
I have tried turning the SMS option off but then some messages don't sent at all.
When I look at my phone now, half the contacts are showing as blue iMessage and the rest green SMS. I know they are all capable of receiving iMessages.
As a matter of interest do you use 2 devices to send iMessages on the same account?
I use iPhone and iPad...Just discovered that if I reset the iPad iMessage settings, the iPhone now sends as iMessages and not SMS's.......for now...
Don't you just love iOS6 Vista!
I use iPhone and iPad...Just discovered that if I reset the iPad iMessage settings, the iPhone now sends as iMessages and not SMS's.......for now...
Don't you just love iOS6 Vista!
So I broke down and did a DFU restore this morning and set up as a new phone. So far, iMessages has been working perfectly for far longer than it has since I got the phone. Seems like the problem is fixed for me. Thanks for getting to the bottom of this cschreppel!
Turning off SMS is a feature to protect you from getting charged for standard text messages. If you don't want to pay for those and iMessages, don't work, you'll have to use something like What's App or another third party messaging service.
Otherwise, do a DFU restore and set your iPhone up as a new phone - you'll have to redownload your apps, etc (there shouldn't be a charge for that). Your iCloud backup was corrupt.
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Glad that worked for you too!
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My wife and I both use iMessages on three devices: iPhone, iPad, and our MacBooks. Resetting it on your iPad may resolve the problem if there was a conflict between your devices.
I'm not bothered by these issues as each OS upgrade on any platform has its kinks until the first update.
Thinking about doing the DFU restore today / can you update and let us know if this has fixed your issue permanently...thx!
It's been 3 days and working perfectly so far. Pretty sure it's permanently fixed. If you're having the same problem, I'd say the DFU restore is the solution. Like cschreppel said, it's likely a corrupt iCloud backup from iOS5.
Just as an FYI, make sure you save your camera roll photos as above. Also, it did not redownload my old text messages so I lost them, too. (Kind of a relief since I had 5 years of text messages that I couldn't bring myself to go through and delete!)
Thanks for all the help everyone / the format went well, been going on 12+ hrs and so far no issues at all. iMessage has yet to revert back to SMS. I haven't tried faceTime or had time to set up all my push notifications. It was a pain having to setup everything all over again....but so far its a viable solution.
It's working
This has now been working for me for the past couple of days. I did perform a network reset again to be safe, but it's finally working. Seems like a problem that Apple or Verizon would have corrected on the back end.
This has now been working for me for the past couple of days. I did perform a network reset again to be safe, but it's finally working. Seems like a problem that Apple or Verizon would have corrected on the back end.
If I send an imessage to someone on the sprint network and they happen to be on the phone, it doesn't allow the imessage but will send a text.
Yep, same thing happening to me. It's fine on WiFi, but if i'm on LTE, it'll work for a while and then stop, but the internet will work fine. Just iMessage. Is there any solution yet? Has either Apple or Verizon claimed responsibility? I really don't want to have to do a DFU restore if it's for no reason.