Can't send photos to non-iPhone users

Ralfyd wrote:

I hate these help forums because you’ll either get apple employees or apple fans who don’t try to help solve the problem but instead shift the blame to everybody else. “Is MMS turned on?”, “Call your provider to reset your MMS”, “maybe it’s the other person’s phone” when we all know apple made it intentionally difficult to send photos to android to sell more iPhones

So, when you go to your doctor and say, "Doc, I have a bump on my head!" and the doctor says, "Did you bump your head on something?", do you get all indignant and insist it's actually aliens implanting things in your brain?

Consider looking up "Occam's Razor".

Can you please stop insisting that contacting the carrier is the only way to fix this? You keep chastising people for not listening to you but what you are saying is NOT completely true. Great that it seemed to work for some, my mother in law thinks her phone can’t do anything unless she takes it to “the phone store” (her carrier) to have them do it and I promise they aren’t doing anything magical. I fixed the issue on my phone without my carrier getting involved.

Just because SMS and MMS require a mobile carrier does not mean that Apple has absolutely nothing to do with those messages sending from one of their phones. The issue has something to do with iMessage and even though that is OTT it seems to cause issues sometimes because it’s built into the phone and the software is written to automatically detect when interacting with another iPhone. For some reason iMessage is causing an issue when something with a higher volume of data (like a photo) is trying to send to a phone that is not an iPhone. The last two apple updates have caused the issue to resurface for me and my fix then makes it work again. I do not work for my (or any) carrier and haven’t contacted them in any way for help. THIS IS NOT MY CARRIER CAUSING THE ISSUE. It may have to do with the way iMessage is interacting with SMS/MMS but that doesn’t mean it’s the carrier’s fault if the phone is doing something weird with the config. Something in my phone is causing this.

akstrawser wrote:

Can you please stop insisting that contacting the carrier is the only way to fix this? You keep chastising people for not listening to you but what you are saying is NOT completely true. Great that it seemed to work for some, my mother in law thinks her phone can’t do anything unless she takes it to “the phone store” (her carrier) to have them do it and I promise they aren’t doing anything magical. I fixed the issue on my phone without my carrier getting involved.

How?

No, I will not stop insisting that SMS/MMS problems are carrier problems, because THEY ARE. Just read the thread you posted to.

You keep insisting on all of that pesky reality! Conspiracy theories are just so much more fun.

Your response about my M1 mac is very interesting, especially since I purchased it and used iMessages successfully 3 months before I got my iPhone. Do I get a ghost iPhone when I purchased my M1? Ahh that explains it then I definitely don't know what carrier that phone is on.

But seriously, the problem is with iPhone pure and simple. Luckily most people in my circle use Signal, otherwise I would be at a disadvantage. I have T-Mobile, and housemate who uses Verizon is now having the same problems, only when sending photos from his iPhone to Android phone. I personally believe Apple should be forced to make their services actually compatible in the U.S. like they are being made to in other countries.

Well, everyone in this and other threads who contacted their carrier got the problem fixed quickly; some even did it on their own on their carrier’s app (you can read the thread to find out how). So you can continue to blame Apple and not get the problem fixed, or badger your carrier until they fix it. Your choice; I don’t care what you do.

Anastasia_Franco wrote:

Your response about my M1 mac is very interesting, especially since I purchased it and used iMessages successfully 3 months before I got my iPhone. Do I get a ghost iPhone when I purchased my M1? Ahh that explains it then I definitely don't know what carrier that phone is on.

You certainly could have used it successfully with iMessage prior to getting an iPhone. What it is not possible for you to have done is sent messages (with or without pictures) to people using Android phones using the Messages application on your Mac.

But seriously, the problem is with iPhone pure and simple.

But seriously, you're incorrect.

Interesting, I dealt with T-Mobile customer support, and consequently found a large thread about the same issue. The problem is squarely with Apple, in fact the problem is especially problematic with iPhone 14's. T-Mobile suggests waiting until Apple fixes the problem or using a different messenger service. "Which I do anyway". iPhone 14 can't will sometimes send photos (10% of the time) on low res settings. But will only send regular photos 5% of the time to Android phones.

The facts are clear, so sorry I am correct. If multiple carriers can't fix it, it is Apple's problem.

Luckily my apple watch works fine with the signal app.

Nope buddy, you are plain wrong. The problem is with Apple.

Anastasia_Franco wrote:

If multiple carriers can't fix it, it is Apple's problem.

So what is your explanation for all the people who have called their carriers and had it fixed? Or were able to fix it themselves through their carrier's website?

Since I called my carrier, and there are huge threads concerning the same thin on my carrier's community site. And my housemate has done the same with his carrier.... Numbers don't lie, the problem exists, and (at least my) carrier suggests using another messenger service until Apple fixes the problem. That itself is a fix, so I guess you may be right there, but it is not a carrier problem, it is Apple's problem. (our ours for buying Apple products).

So, your carrier's customer service was trying to get you off the phone as fast as possible. They have quotas and that's what they do. Call them back and tell them to turn off MMS and group messaging. Don't get too deep into why. Thank them and hang up. Restart your phone. Call them back and ask them to turn MMS and group messaging on again.

hmm, don't believe it will work, but I'll try it anyway. Let you know how it goes.

I was able to send pics to my husband for years, from my iPhone to his Android phone. Now, I can’t even send a GIF after the update before last. As well, that update killed my iPad!! It just shut it down completely and it wouldn’t start back up, wouldn’t charge…NOTHING! Just a Black Screen Of Death. These updates need to stop!! They are destroying devices and ruining things that have operated just fine, for years. My daughter hasn’t updated her phone in two years and hers works just fine!! Nuff said. Please stop fixing what isn’t broke.