Why do iMessages just sit there when they don't send?

[TH55]

So damn annoying, I have it set to "send as sms when iMessage is not available" and yet any time this is the case it just sits there waiting and I have to manually click on it and hit send as text message. Incredibly aggravating and inefficient, not what a "smart" phone should do.

 

[cynics]

Could you give an example of when this occurs and the devices involved?

For example I run into this with my g/f who doesn't have/use data and utilizes wifi (don't ask) so when I send an iMessage it will sit there until she has data then it will send OR it waits long enough to time out and sends as an SMS.

So this works very well for us. If its an emergency I can force it to send an SMS if its not she'll get it when she's available.

People without iPhones I set the contact to 'mobile' and it will send immediately as an SMS. If its set to 'iPhone' it will try iMessage until it eventually times out and sends as an SMS.

For the most part this works very well for me.

 

[sviato]

To give you something else to complain about of course.

Anyways, because it keeps trying to send the iMessage for 5-10 minutes I think and then sends as a text message.