SMS inbox full? But not really.

Question

Level 1

10 points

SMS inbox full? But not really.

I suddenly got a message a few hours ago that said "Your SMS mailbox is full. New messages cannot be received until you delete some messages." I know my iPhone is nowhere near reaching it's storage capacity and I have had the same messages on there from my last iPhone for a couple years. So it seemed odd. But I deleted a bunch of messages and turned it on and off and I was still unable to receive text messages. I then deleted a bunch of entire conversations and turned it on and off and still couldn't receive texts. I then backed up my iPhone and reset it to factory settings. When I did that it, I received all of the text messages I had been sent in the past few hours. Then, I restored it to its previous backup and again, it said my SMS inbox was full, which makes no sense, since I'd already deleted hundreds. If anyone can help, PLEASE. Thanks.

iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Apr 13, 2011 12:51 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 26, 2011 8:46 AM in response to asalipscomb

I have called Apple about this twice and both times my issue has not been resolved. It's frustrating to have to delete all your old text messages just to recieve new ones. Apple should have this issue resolved by now.

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Answer 2

AKRBTN

Level 6

8,311 points

Apr 13, 2011 1:20 AM in response to asalipscomb

Have you tried contacting your carrier? This sounds more like an issue at their end.

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Answer 3

asalipscomb Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 13, 2011 5:36 PM in response to AKRBTN

I don't think it is a carrier issue, because when I restored the phone to factory settings, I received the texts I'd been sent when it said it was full. But then once I restore my phone, it again says my inbox is full, even though it isn't.

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Answer 4

AKRBTN

Level 6

8,311 points

Apr 14, 2011 2:52 AM in response to asalipscomb

The only other thing you can do is get Apple to take a look.

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Answer 5

AramTag

Level 1

1 points

Aug 7, 2011 5:01 PM in response to AKRBTN

I am having this message too. Ive deleted majority of my texts and it still keeps popping up 3-4 times a day

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Answer 6

AramTag

Level 1

1 points

Aug 18, 2011 7:43 PM in response to asalipscomb

Anyone? I restored from backup and the message popped up again.....

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Answer 7

appley01

Level 1

8 points

Sep 3, 2011 8:11 PM in response to asalipscomb

i also got the error message "Your sms mailbox is full. New messages cannot be received until you delete some messages." and i have more then enough memory ...

i just called apple care and this is what they told me to do

go to Settings -> General settings -> Reset -> Reset all settings

this WON'T erase any data!

Then after about 5 mins connect the phone to the computer with iTunes open and then the text messages should come thru

this worked for me!

hopefully it will work for you too 🙂

Message was edited by: appley01

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Answer 8

Oct 6, 2011 9:29 PM in response to appley01

i tried this, didn't work. what i ended up doing was just restoring it as a new phone and starting from scratch, but at least i can get SMS now.

absurd.

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Answer 9

fikison

Level 1

4 points

Oct 13, 2011 10:09 PM in response to asalipscomb

I'm having the exact smae issue! I have a iphone 4 for att and I've missed out on 2 days of text messages. Not until I restored it to factory settings did the messages come in. I dont want to start from scratch! the information, text messages, etc. are important. Why would they force us to update our OS if its going to cause such a problem. Any suggestions?

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Answer 10

scouserr

Level 1

28 points

Oct 15, 2011 12:43 AM in response to appley01

Didn't work. After reset it asked me to restore from backup or start as new iPhone.

If I didn't have backup, would have lost everything.

And still can't get my sms'es

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Answer 11

Oct 15, 2011 8:06 PM in response to scouserr

Had the same problem....delete any pictures or videos in your messages inbox. So open up each conversation and delete those (don't worry about hitting to view older messages, just delete the ones you see without hitting that). After that, reboot your phone. And voila!

Let me know if that doesn't make sense..

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Answer 12

scouserr

Level 1

28 points

Oct 15, 2011 9:40 PM in response to oh(snAP)PLE

Deleted about a 1000 and still does not solve it...

Any other suggestions pls?

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Answer 13

Oct 17, 2011 12:04 AM in response to scouserr

I also have this issue... any other suggestions?!

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Answer 14

Jarelle

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2011 11:12 AM in response to asalipscomb

I"m having the same issue, the reset all settings works for me but only for a few text then I have to do it again...

This all started for me once I restored a backup to the 4s.

I can imessage but I can't get new SMS's.

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Answer 15

Oct 17, 2011 4:24 PM in response to asalipscomb

ive done all of the above, nothing has worked, it has stopped receiving text messages after i updated it. do we think we will wake up to a bunch of texts or??

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