iMessage "delivered" but not received

I'm having the same issues - iMessages sent from my iPhone say "Delivered" yet the recipients don't get the message. This happens about wvery 5th message I send. Since I have an unlimited SMS texting plan, I just turned off iMessage until Apple (or AT&T?) solve this problem. iMessage is just too unreliable and unpredictable.

I should have noted I'm on the Three network and my friend is on O2, but since our iMessages generally go via wifi I don't think it's a network issue. I use it a lot with my Dad who has a wifi-only iPad 2, so turning it off is not an option for me. It does seems more reliable with him. I'm trying WhatsApp to see if that's any better - at least the "double tick" confirmation is a bit more helpful with that app!

Found A solution that worked, not sure it will work for everyone. The user that is NOT receiving the message needs to go to settings for Messaging and turn iMessage off then on again. It has to show 'Receive messages at' settings with either phone number or email address. The phone that was not getting my messages did not show that anywhere. Thanks D.R.C. ... your suggestion led me to check this.

Good luck!

I have exactly the same problem! My brother sent my an iMessage and it showed delivered on his iPhone but I never received it. When I check the message setting, there is only an on/off switch for iMessage, the other options(send read receipts, send as SMS, etc) are missing. I toggle off and on iMessage, and these options are magically reappeared!

I'm having the same issues. iMessage stated delivered but regularly messages not arriving on the other phone .. It's far too intermittent to be used now by me so I have had to turn it off.

Have apple acknowledged this there seems to be a number of forums on this now ..

Having the same problem here now. Very deceiving that the imessage has been 'delivered' when it clearly hasn't. Getting messages back now in text messages and they work so must be a problem at the other end.

Will try toggling imessage off and on tonight. No apparently reason why this has happened though - which would indicate this is a bug.

Same problem here. I get the option for iMessage, sent the message , says it's delievered, the recipent gets no message. This is a huge problem which needs the immediate attention from Apple.

I'm having problems with iMessage to. I just received an imessage from a friend who sent it 5 days ago and it only seemed to come through because another message he sent today came through as an SMS and the imessage followed it. Also he has not been getting messages I have sent him either. I am using a iPhone 4S, he is using an iPhone 3GS both with iOS5 obviously. From all the entries on this forum it seems this is a big problem.

umm when you update phones you redownload and reinstalll os software... thats what fixed it... people take phones through magnetic scanners, they disconnect their devices prematurely, they download things with sketchy internet or wifi, they even try and update their phone with questionable connection via wifi.... these and many other things can corrupt the static ram data on their phone (not physical harddrive.)

thats typically why a restore becomes necessary...

? Where does that fit into this particular thread? Is iMessage particularly susceptable to this or something?!?!

I am getting more irate with this bug now and the fact that there has been no progress or even acceptance of a problem. My partner has a one month old 4s, I have a 3 month old 4. The first 'fix' of turning iMessage off and on worked... for about a week. Now every iMessage I send her is not being received but I am informed it has been delivered!

If its a network carrier issue, fine - but I can't see it as multiple people on various networks are reporting this issue (how many are going unnoticed???).

Will this be investigated? Or will the 'feature' of my £500 mobile device (x2) continue to be a hindrance?

Just to update my experience - I've been using WhatsApp for several weeks now and, although it may be slow at times (sometimes a couple of hours), crucially it has never lost a message. The "double tick" confirmation is very useful. The first tick indicates that the server has received the message and the second tick that the recipient has at least received it.

I'm not too sure where the "delivered" status on iMessage fits in to this - does it mean that the Apple "server" has received it or that it has confirmation the recipient's device has (apparently) downloaded it? If the former then that's not a lot of use really!!

My wife (who uses an iPhone4S on Orange) experienced this issue yesterday. On her phone the iMessage is displayed as 'Delivered', yet I received no message. My iPhone 4 on O2 was factory defaulted and restored from backup on the iCloud three days ago so this is looking like a bug on the device or on the back-end.

Yeah, definitely not a service provider issue. I'm on O2, the wife on Vodafone and messages I'm sending (and that iMessage is indicating have been sent with out issue) are constantly not being received on her phone. Will try the suggestion from glenn10 above, namely:

"go to settings for Messaging and turn iMessage off then on again. It has to show 'Receive messages at' settings with either phone number or email address. The phone that was not getting my messages did not show that anywhere."

Hopefully that does the trick.

I think iMessage is like the Bump App. It could be akin to an immediate "peer to peer" type arrangement coordinated by Mother Apple.

Your device (iPod, iPad, iPhone) tells Mother Apple, via the internet (Wifi or 3G) that mobile No. or an eMail address is "online" and can receive messages.

People who want to message you from their devices are doing the same thing in "advertising" their presence and availability to Mother Apple with their "addresses" which could be phone numbers or eMail addresses.

When you want to send a message then it basically goes via Mother Apple who matches you up and makes the connection. If the other party drops off the internet during the messaging session for any reason, then, whilst your message is considered by Mother Apple to be "delivered" it is not actually received. I don't think Mother Apple have the facility to "hold" or store messages for later delivery, they are just the "exchange". Mother Apple could, however, snoop on conversations and this might be in the fine print of the terms and conditions.

If iMessage (ie an internet connection) is not available, then the SMS will most likely be sent as per the 3G network.

Re-registering your device is probably not a bad idea !

Having the same problem myself.

Apple again demonstrating their not-quite-there competence with the Cloud.