Q: iPhone to Android iMessage bug fix

My case seems to be a really odd variant of things being described here.

1. I had an iPhone 5 on Verizon running the latest version of iOS 7. For work, I needed to temporarily move to a Verizon Galaxy S4, which I activated without first deactivating iMessage.
2. NO iOS user could properly text me whatsoever (it would show as message failed) with the exception being those iPhone users who have manually gone into their settings and enabled Send as SMS. But, as has been pointed out, iOS 7 seems to have defaulted that to No.
3. I turned off iMessage on my old iPhone 5 and wiped it. I signed out of iMessage on all other tablets and computers. The problem still existed. The only iPhone users who could text me were those with Send as SMS enabled.
4. I tried the support profile solution, but my iPhone was not registered on it. When I tried to register it, so I could then unregister it, it told me my serial number was already associated with another account. This is probably because my iPhone was an Apple Store replacement given to me earlier in the summer. Maybe it was refurbished?
5. I tried the Apple ID password reset solution. The problem still existed.
6. I reactivated my iPhone 5, restored from iCloud, and then turned off iMessage. I went to my laptop and signed into iMessage to check and see if the phone number was still an option. It was, but when I tried again later in the hour, it was gone. This was my first sign of sucess, but the texting problem still remained. At this point, I was now on an iPhone 5 with iMessage turned off, but I still couldn't get any texts from iPhone users who didn't have Send as SMS turned on.
7. I called apple support and explained I wanted to disassociate my number from iMessage. The agent instructed me to sign out of iMessage on all devices, which I did. 20 hours later, some of the iPhone users who could not text me began to see my name as GREEN when they composed a text message. This is indicative of an Android number, a dumbphone number, or an iPhone that does not have iMessage enabled (Me). Partial sucess!
8. I am now past the 24 hour limit, but the problem still remains for some users. The only connection I see is that these users had Send as SMS enabled on their phones at the time that Apple deleted me from their database. I could be way off base here, and this could very well be totally unrelated.

I don't think the problem will magically go away for me after 30 days, or anyone else who apple manually deleted, because our numbers technically have already been deleted from the iMessage system. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and things will have magically resolved themselves, but I doubt it. I'm really out of ideas at this point. I'm happy the problem has been fixed for some of the iPhone users trying to reach me, but I'm concerned that others aren't automatically able to-even after toggling Send as SMS and deleting the old conversation on their devices.

I would love to do this but the reason I switched to a Galaxy S4 is because my iPhone was stolen. So I do not have it or the SIM card that was in it to do any of these steps. I am not saying that Apple ***** or is terrible for not fixing this but it sure does seem like the people who came up with such amazing, user friendly products could also come up with a list of instructions for people to use when in this situation. I have read many threads now and tried multiple options to fix it and still have not been successful.  I will keep reading until I find one that works. Deleted my phone number from my apple id, changed my apple id and password, removed the iphone from my support profile, logged out of icloud on all devices, had the sender delete me as a contact & then add me back. Not fixed.  So I will press on.  If anyone has a solution that I haven't listed, I would love to hear it. Beccac503

I will repost solution that works 100 percent that was posted by other user on that thread. All the rest that you tried do not work.

trudeau43

Check that out and I was told that apple advisors see more info then us regular people.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5185

The solution for this issue is to call 1-800-MYAPPLE and say you need to deactivate your imessage after updating to an non-apple phone since your iPhone friends cant send you messages. They will do the needed steps to remove your number from the iMessage system which after initiated can take a couple hours up to a day. If that does not fix the issue then your contacts are not sending to your phone number and or need to start a new conversation with you. If that does not help it then you are not doing it right or they are not sending to your phone number. The advisors see much more than us consumers can as with most articles which are internal only and even if released to public would not help anyone because you have to have access to their internal systems.

Holy crap mate, you, your friend and your entire family are saints, gentlemens, ladies, and scholars. I did the same exact thing as you, switched from iPhone to GS4 and then all of a sudden people couldn't text me. This fixed it, cheers!

I bought a new galaxy s4.

Wasn't receiving texts.

My friend narrowed it down to iMessage by turning off and on iMessage. I was not receiving texts when iMessage was on.

I unregistered my phone but that did NOT resolve the issue.

I also changed my appleId and that did NOT resolve the issue.

Finally, I unregistered my iPod nano from 2005 and that solved the issue.

This may have been an obvious fix but I missed it.

dalessandrd wrote:

 

I bought a new galaxy s4.

Wasn't receiving texts.

My friend narrowed it down to iMessage by turning off and on iMessage. I was not receiving texts when iMessage was on.

I unregistered my phone but that did NOT resolve the issue.

I also changed my appleId and that did NOT resolve the issue.

Finally, I unregistered my iPod nano from 2005 and that solved the issue.

This may have been an obvious fix but I missed it.

BTW the way to make sure that issue is fixed - on iphone that sends message, go to settings - messages- turn off "send as SMS" feature. Make sure messages are on and send a message. If the issue is fixed - you will see message undelivered. You do not see it - still need to talk to Apple.

Is there any way to do this without paying the ridiculous $19 that apple charges for single use phone "support".

rghatfield wrote:

 

Is there any way to do this without paying the ridiculous $19 that apple charges for single use phone "support".

Have your carrier transfer you to Apple.

i get the same weird situation !

i wanna dig more in this BUG

Case 1:

user A and B have both iMessage
A send a iMessage to B ... B is out of internet connection, A automatically see the iMessage became an SMS

Case 2:

B trow away the iphone and use a better/other phone

A send a iMessage to B ... B is not on iMessage but the iMessage is sent normally...
B didn't receive any SMS

so... for me:  THIS IS A BUG !

the iMessage servers should know if i'm in or out ! Like the case 1

so please, Apple fix this, stop kidnap my messages and leave me alone!

This just solidifies the fact that I have owned my last iphone. Just switched to a Note 3 and after dealing with this for 2 weeks now.....spending an inordinate amount of time researching, reading and trying all the 'workarounds', I still have family members who cannot text me. Both phones are good products; however, I know which one I'll be sticking with. Some people who have this problem value their time enough to not appreciate having to waste it dealing with a problem without a defined remedy. The simple fact is once the phone number is transferred to a non-iphone, the imessage capability should automatically revert back. Yes, this IS a glitch, and a big one. Big enough that I'm done with screwing with it and will make certain I dont have to deal with it again by not buying another phone product from Apple.....ever. It was fun while it lasted but I'm not going through this again! This is actually a big enough glitch that Apple should send out messages to everyone that imessage should be de-activated on all phones due to their phones interrupting a major form of communication....period.

Regardless of whether or not your friends can still text you using SMS, this is a major bug and completely unacceptable.  Apple does not have the right to highjack a number as a specific iMessage number.  I had a family emergency this week and my family didn't know to switch to SMS and I missed a number of very important messages.  Sounds like a class action suit waiting to happen.  I applied the fix where you unregister the old device and it didn't work.  Looking for a lawyer now.

u allowed them to 'hijack' ur number when u turned on ur imessages... u never had to. live with ur life choices if u want the perks of technology.

Spot on! Thanks for your help! This one works people!

I am having the exact same problem.  Even after my friends have set their iPhones to send me messages (rathan than iMessage), they still cannot send me text messages.  I take that back - I get intermittent texts, which is even worse! 

I have deleted my cell phone number (but not my actual phone( from my Apple registration. 

All that said, one shouldn't have to send emails to their friends who still have iPhones (who can remember that?) and ask them to switch to sending SMS. 

It is a glitch and needs to be fixed. 

I completely agree!  I've spent hours trying to 'fix' something that should be a non-issue.  I curently own a Macbook, 2 iPads and an Apple TV, but I don't think I will be replacing any of them with Apple products again.  This should have been an easy fix.