iPhone to Android iMessage bug fix

ajdiduca wrote:

Thanks for the response--I just called them and their resolution was for me to call all of my contacts with iPhones and have them delete message threads with me and if that doesn't work, then they should call iPhones. Such an unrealistic solution!!!

The only approved steps so far are to turn off iMessage on your old iPhone, have Apple Support revoke the certificate to disassociate your phone number from iMessage/Facetime, and for anyone using an iPhone to send you messages to update to the newest iOS (7.1 for iPhone 4 and higher, 6.1.6 for 3GS).

Other possible steps:

1. Go to www.icloud.com and make sure the device is removed from Find My iPhone.

2. Backup and then restore as new your old iPhone.

3. Go to id.apple.com and change your Apple ID's primary email address to something different than it currently shows.

4. Go to id.apple.com and change your Apple ID password

5. Have the other iPhone users delete the existing message thread, delete your contact from their iPhone, backup and restore from backup, and then re-add your contact using only your phone number. Also, make sure they have 'Send as SMS' turned on.

The core issue is usually the other iPhones not sending the message as SMS when it should.

I got the response to tell my contacts to turn on the "Send as SMS" option as well, ridiculous. Removing all instances of my iPhone and other devices from my iCloud account was not something I knew about, which I tried and it didn't help. What I was also told is that my phone number is going to be cached in each person's iPhone, as an iPhone, for at least 45 days when the phone number's token will be renewed, at which point then maybe my phone number will no longer be identified as an iPhone.

Supposedly the only thing that will work is to put the sim card back in the iPhone and disable iMessage and Facetime and then sign out of iCloud/App Store. The sim card I have now isn't the same size as the iPhone's, and Verizon apparently took my iPhone's sim card, so I'm going to go there tomorrow and have them set up an iPhone sim for me so I can use it on the spot to do all this. I'm assuming they'll help me out since I am their customer after all and am experiencing an issue that can be easily resolved in their store, and I would also assume that they would help out people who no longer have an iPhone, then again I assume companies and people are nice, so who knows.

Posted about this on FB today, absolute BS, and a class action lawsuit is in order, most people aren't even aware, and probably go months, without realizing the issue, depending on your text usage. Anyway here's the post and what i did to fix it...hope it saves some headaches....

Here's a little something you all might want to know about TEXTING, and why you may not be getting them from certain people etc. Could be VERY IMPORTANT info, ESPECIALLY if you have just switched from an iPhone to another brand of phone.

SO here it is, I was getting texts from a few people but not from others, they were getting mine and responding etc. but they weren't coming to my new phone… After quite a bit of brain flexing, and texting a friend, I deduced that it was people with an iPhone, that were not able to respond to me.....

I just had an iPhone that got “misplaced” so, when I bought a new one (you know on the ole awesome 2 year plan…once again ;/), I switched to an LG. Put in the new Sim, got a text from AT&T, phone was activated….or so I thought…for 3 days even… b4 realizing something was up. Upon realization of my dilemma, I Called AT&T today, always gotta love that, as it's probably one of the only places you’d say you called that day, & meant it… literally. So… after a day on the phone with different peeps at AT&T, and amidst a long wait on hold (as I was passed along to yet a 3rd person...) I hung up...Google time, yeah I agree…took me long enough…but I digress.

Turns out Apple takes over your phone number, When you get an iPhone….So my phone was still set up with imessaging, even though I no longer have the iPhone, easy fix…. if you still have the iPhone…still easy if you don’t, but took forever to figure out.

If you still have the iPhone, go to settings and turn off imessaging…wah lah, now on your new Non-iPhone, you will be able to receive texts from all phones, within 2 or so hours, from when they deactivate it from your number…problem solved!

For those who like me have been victimized by the iPhone bandito, or…just lost or sold the old iPhone, read on.

If you no longer have the phone, you need to contact apple (please read additional info at bottom of post before calling) to have them deactivate imessaging from your phone number….after doing so you will be good to go. So go to apple support, navigate through all that fun stuff, to the call them section, provide them with your number, they’ll send you a text with a code, you say code to the operator, and wah lah, you are free of the iPhone…woot!

Very easy to do, but the bummer is any missed texts, do not magically make it through, so hopefully this has only happened recently, and you didn’t miss many texts, or better yet maybe most of your friends don’t have iPhones….... Regardless I hope I saved someone the headache it was to figure out what was up, saved a few relationships, and jobs in the process…and now we can all text in harmony Cheers....oops wait a minute...read on...

Additional info to complete your removal from anything iPhone:
first go to this link: https://supportprofile.apple.com/MySupportProfile.do , log in with apple ID, you should be in support profile, now click on edit products, and click the x next to the device(s) you wish to remove, i had 3 different ones on there, all no longer used, yet all competing for my imei etc, so my mms, antenna strength was operating at a very inconsistent rate, for say...5 years or more, awesome thanks Apple, i wonder how many lost job ops, and missed dates i had in that time lol !

OK back to the issue at hand, once you have deleted your devices, you should now be back in support profile, do to the phone number section (left side of screen), click edit, and then go to any space with info & backspace to clear the boxes and hit save....You now are free from iPhone....at least i fricking hope so lol. At least i was able for the first time to receive an iMessage from an iPhone...Aye Carumba!

And even more additional info....

Zoinks...foiled again, it seems that additionally:
1) Clearall your text messages
2) Turn off and restart your phone
3) Contact apple support again, or do it when you first contact them, and make sure you are 100%removed from their system
4) Tell them to additionally remove your evening phone number from your account, and to leave that blank.
5)Wait up to 48 (yep 48) hours before it clears the system....

JeezyP This is way too much BS for the avg user to have to deal with, when switching your phone, the dam phone company (for all the $ they make on us) should handle this for us. I don't know bout you, but i don't have two days to deal with this crap.... I will update in 48 hours.

I'm going to share what worked for me. For the record I tried turning off iMessage on my iPad, removing my phone # from my account, deleting the iPhone out of my Apple account both in iCloud and in the service link provided elsewhere in the thread, and none of that worked.

Step 1) Call 1-800-MYAPPLE and say technical support. When it says what device are you calling about, say something like "iMessage," don't say a device. Saying a device they will want to charge you the ridiculous $19 fee. Eventually you will get a touch tone menu that lists devices. Hit the prompt for "Other." You'll get a representative.

Step 2) Explain you upgraded from an iPhone to a non-apple device and aren't getting texts from iPhones. This rep will transfer you to the correct tech department.

Step 3) Explain the situation to the new representative. They will send you a text message with a code to read back to them to verify your identity. This will make them disassociate your number from iMessage. They'll tell you it may take up to 24 hours for changes to take effect.

Step 4) NOW, once the changes take effect, the iPhone user will get a message when they try to text you saying that it failed. PROGRESS! They at least know you didn't get their text. If they long hold the failed text, they can select "More..." and then "Send as text." Boom, you'll receive the message.

Step 5) REPLY! This will "teach" their iPhone you are no longer to be iMessaged for good.

A total pain, but thats what worked for me. I'm hoping over time everyone who tries to text me from an iPhone will figure out Step 4 on their own, but if not, they'll at least know I didn't get their message and hopefully have the good sense to contact me another way.

givinupthefight wrote:

Step 1) Call 1-800-MYAPPLE and say technical support. When it says what device are you calling about, say something like "iMessage," don't say a device. Saying a device they will want to charge you the ridiculous $19 fee. Eventually you will get a touch tone menu that lists devices. Hit the prompt for "Other." You'll get a representative.

u should never have to pay the $19 fee for this issue no matter what option u choose in the call directory. apple gives automatic exceptions for phone support to people who are trying to get their imessages deactivated. if u get an advisor that tries to charge u for this issue immediately ask for a senior advisor because the advisor ur currently talking to is an idiot.

zelous wrote:

u should never have to pay the $19 fee for this issue no matter what option u choose in the call directory. apple gives automatic exceptions for phone support to people who are trying to get their imessages deactivated. if u get an advisor that tries to charge u for this issue immediately ask for a senior advisor because the advisor ur currently talking to is an idiot.

That very well may be, but the computer voice prompt has no way of relaying that message. When I said "iPhone" as my device, it went by my phone number that it got through caller ID, saw I had an iPhone tied to that number at one point, and the computer told me I would have to buy a $19 one time service deal. I could have agreed to it and the representative might have waived it, but the automatic computer voice routing system isn't going to give you an exception to a charge. Thats why I just listed an instruction to get around the computer voice system and to a representative, bypassing any mention of a charge.

22 pages on this thread thus far. No, it's not a problem at all. I’ll give you that it is not a bug. It is by design, which shows even less forethought or respect for users.

The absolute arrogance of some Apple users is astounding. Preaching about how their dummied down devices are superior is getting about as old as listening to grandfathers talk about walking to school uphill both ways.

I own every device you can think of because I provide high end support services for high end clients. And have for 13 years. The reality is that Apple makes a simple interface and provides just enough ability to tinker with their devices that the unsophisticated user believes they have a superior product. Which is great for most users and why Apple has the success it does. But superior products/devices? Not even close.

22 pages isn't very long around here, and we are talking about 100 or so people. If you provide high end support can you compute what the percentage of 100 to all iPhone users is? Even the comparison to the number of people chaning to a different phone is going to bne very small.

I've not yet found anyone who switched to have an issue and they either cleared the older phone themselves turning off iMessage or they called and had it deactivated. Obviously for some people it is going awry and they need to escalate their issue.

This is not the only thread addressing this problem on Apple.com. This tiopic is discussed on many other sites. The "1% Rule" for Internet forum participation is in effect on every site. The math speaks volumes.

so are u here to help solve the problem? add something new to what everyone else has already said? or just to complain about the big bad apple?

because if u want to just complain theres a site for that

apple.com/feedback

these are user to user forums, and me as a user.... i dont care about ur life story bro.

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fixes for the issue

- call applecare (1-800-275-2273) and have them remove ur # from the systems. this will take 24-48 hours.

- if u are still having issues with ur iphone using contacts sending u messages have ur contacts update their software and make sure that "send as sms" is turned on in their settings.

"if u are still having issues with ur iphone using contacts sending u messages have ur contacts update their software and make sure that "send as sms" is turned on in their settings."

I see... somehow, to you, having to contact every iphone owner you've ever messaged and asking them to change their settings is a tenable solution. Pathetic.

In this day of smart phones, etc... one would think that the sim should be able to ascertain what imessage and message is. The fact that you have to go through anything is ridiculous. I didn't have to go through any steps to start iMessage, it just worked... should be the reverse as well.

martofsky wrote:

I see... somehow, to you, having to contact every iphone owner you've ever messaged and asking them to change their settings is a tenable solution. Pathetic.

i phones are set up to where if u dont want to use up ur regular text messages when ur imessaging isnt working u can turn off the "send as sms" option that is normally on by default. obviously this can cause issues for this particular issue.

and btw it just shows how small of a person u are when u call someone pathetic for trying to help. just goes to show how brave/rude ppl can be when theyre hiding behind an internet alias.

zelous wrote:

and btw it just shows how small of a person u are when u call someone pathetic for trying to help. just goes to show how brave/rude ppl can be when theyre hiding behind an internet alias.

I did not intend to call you pathetic, but rather was referring to iMessage and Apple's suggested "solution." To imagine that I could go and get every single one of my contacts to change the settings on their phone and, possibly, delete the thread is beyond ludacrous. I use my phone for work and have a multitude of people I infrequently contact. To ask a customer to change their phone settings to be able to text me if they want to text me at some unspecified time in the future is beyond impractical and actually not a solution at all.

The send as sms option is NOT turned on by default, for the record (this was confirmed by "senior" apple customer support). If that option WERE turned on by default, this would be a non-issue.