Can't send photos to non-iPhone users

This turning off Bluetooth bizarrely worked for me as well. Photos reeent immediately. iPhone 13 iOS 16.6 8/6/2023.

Yep same for me. iPhone 14 iOS 16.6

Yep, and the solution is the same one that worked for dozens of other users in this 7 page thread, so the best way to find a solution is to go back and read some of the posts from people who solved it.

I get that but my reason for adding my 2 cents is in the hopes that Apple would fix it!

There is nothing for Apple to fix, it is a problem with your carrier, who hasn’t configured your account correctly. And this is a user to user forum with minimal Apple participation, and not a way to communicate with Apple.

Ok thanks! I will talk to my carrier!

Yeah, well it's August and it still isn't working. Only happens with Android Phones, I can send photos to iPhones and Mac's all day long. Even my MacBook Pro is having the same problem with the newest update of Ventura. Further, there are no settings as listed for the Mac.

Anastasia_Franco wrote:

Yeah, well it's August and it still isn't working. Only happens with Android Phones, I can send photos to iPhones and Mac's all day long. Even my MacBook Pro is having the same problem with the newest update of Ventura. Further, there are no settings as listed for the Mac.

Have you called your carrier?

Folks are still stuck on saying it has to do with the carrier and them not configuring things correctly, yet it’s happening across multiple carriers and crops up randomly only on iPhones? It started out of nowhere for me on a phone I had for many months, on a plan we’ve had for many years and haven’t changed a thing, and the issue was coming and going.

It doesn’t matter. ALL SMS AND MMS messaging is handled by the carrier, so if it isn’t working only the carrier can fix it.

I haven’t contacted Spectrum yet. Plan to do that this week.

Well, I am on T-Mobile Magenta Max have both iPhones 14s and the newest Android phones, I went to them first. ....and because they claim everything is configured correctly, and I can send photos through SMS/MMS from my Android Phones to my iPhones, but not consistently the other way around, lead's me to think it's a Apple problem.

Additionally, I have the same problem with my MacBook Pro M1 when using iMessages. And that's on a fiber connection. So, it's not my carrier. Ah, one last thing, the problem still exists when using my personal iPhone 14 on my high speed wi-fi too.

Anastasia_Franco wrote:

Well, I am on T-Mobile Magenta Max have both iPhones 14s and the newest Android phones, I went to them first. ....and because they claim everything is configured correctly, and I can send photos through SMS/MMS from my Android Phones to my iPhones, but not consistently the other way around, lead's me to think it's a Apple problem.

What your Android phones can or cannot do is irrelevant. Each phone is configured individually by the carrier. This is a problem that can only be fixed on the carrier side. Some people have had luck logging into their own accounts either through their carrier's website or through the app and turning off Group Messaging and MMS. Turn the phone off, turn it back on again and re-enable. It is possible that not all carriers offer this option.

Additionally, I have the same problem with my MacBook Pro M1 when using iMessages. And that's on a fiber connection. So, it's not my carrier. Ah, one last thing, the problem still exists when using my personal iPhone 14 on my high speed wi-fi too.

The reason you have the problem on your Mac as well is that your Mac can't send anything to an Android user that your phone can't. It's essentially piggybacking off your Mac. Once you get the iPhone issue resolved, the Mac issue should resolve automatically.

If resetting the settings yourself doesn't work, you're going to need to escalate the issue with your carrier. Remember, the goal of customer service reps is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. They have quotas to meet. You can try telling them to turn off Group and MMS messaging, wait for you to power cycle your phone and then turn them back on again. They may just be willing to oblige just to get you to go away. Or, call and ask them to turn the features off. Thank them and hang up. Restart your phone. Call back and ask them to turn the features back on. They will think you are strange but so what?

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

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

Your conspiracy theory doesn’t hold water.

It is a FACT that MMS is a carrier function, and if it doesn’t work then the carrier has to fix it. As has been verified by dozens of posts in this thread, that you apparently didn’t bother to read, that said that when the user contacted their carrier the carrier was able to fix it.

The user DOES have to do a couple of things; Turn on MMS in Settings/Messages, and turn on Cellular Data, because MMS cannot use Wi-Fi, as the carrier doesn’t have access to the user’s Wi-Fi network.