How to switch 1 contact from iMessage to Text Message?

Has anyone found a solution to this other than to just blame those of us who unknowingly rid ourselves of our iphones without disabling imessage? I'm having the same problem. I recently switched from my old iphone 4 which wasn't working well to an HTC One. My wife purchased the 5S and has also been happy but she and everyone else we know that has an iphone and used to send me imessages now can't get messages through to me easily because the default method is imessage. I've eliminated all of my devices on icloud, erased them from my apple id on the apple support page, and recreated the contact on my wife's phone (though I accept the problem is not on her end at all.)

Aside from accusing me of being an idiot for erasing and turning in my phone to Verizon without disabling imessage, does anyone have a constructive solution to the problem? My old iphone isn't coming back.

In iOS7 it is possible to block users specifically for iMessage... not sure exactly if this would work, but have one of your friends with an iPhone add you to the block list for iMessage. Settings > Messages > Blocked

Then have them try sending a text message to you. It should be sent as an actual SMS instead of iMessage.

Downside: If this works, everyone that messages you from an iOS device would need to do the same thing.

barbie38 wrote:

I received one update already ios7.3 I think it was and still having the texting issue with non-smart phone users.

iMessage has nothing to do with messaging non-smart phone users.

iMessage only works between iOS devices.

I had the same issue where my sister switched from an iPhone to an Android, but my messages were still defaulting as iMessages when I would send her somethng. I just did the following, and I think it may have fixed the issue: Settings> Messages> Send & Receive> I unchecked all the email addresses and only left my phone number checked.

I'm hoping this permanently fixes my issues, though, and that it's not just a temporary glitch. 😀

Delete the contact. When you add them again and you are selecting what type of phone number it is (ie: Home, Moblie, iPhone, etc.) make sure you choose Mobile instead of iPhone. Works for me everytime.

It's a bit of a process but we had this situation (See steps below). Husband owned a iPhone 4, switched to Galaxy 4S, wife still has iPhone 4S. Galaxy could not receive messages from iPhones because iPhones still reading as iMessage rather than text.

Steps we did to fix it:

1- Changed username and password for AppleID (done through the support settings).

2- Logged into iCloud, deleted off iPhone from account as a device (the old phone no longer in use).

3- Logged into iTunes, deleted the iPhone off as a device (this seemed to be THE ONE!). Note: It took about 15-20 minutes before the message would send as a text to the Galaxy after deleting the old iPhone device in iTunes.

4- Did turn off the iMessage (we still had the old phone). We also turned off all types of phone and message related services in the settings. However, I do not think you need to do this.

Steps 1-3 were done on the computer online. Not on the device.

5- Reboot all phone devices.

I also did delete the contact, but it doesn't really matter with the contact stuff. I added it new - but it was still showing in my address book as iMessage but when I went to send the message it showed up correctly as a text and was then received.

Good luck. I read on another forum also that you can contact your carrier and they might be able to do something within the network to help you get it resolved.

DUDE. Obviously these people would have done that if they could. However, the phone people don't tell you to do that before you switch devices, and 99% of people would assume that iMessage would understand after you switch it from "iPhone" to "Mobile" that it's not iMessage anymore. You'd also think that after changing it manually over and over to send as text, it would catch on. None of this is stuff that makes automatic sense. It's not intuitive at all. In fact, our family friend who is a executive at Sprint thinks Apple did it on purpose to keep people from switching.

I understand that you're probably defensive because you're kind of an Apple fanboy. I understand, I like Apple too. But you have to be able to recognize when companies fail and not follow them blindly.

Your solution isn't a solution, it's a hind-sight 20/20 situation. People need solutions for what happens after you've already reset and turned in your phone.

I also have this issue with a relative of mine (she used to have an iPhone). And she would NOT have known to turn off iMessage. This issue really does need Apple's attention for numerious reasons, many of which have been shared here. What's very discouraging is the Verizon tech didn't advise her to turn off iMessage, and I (who have an iPhone) am dealing with my iphone sending her iMessages to her non iPhone device. You suggest blocking however my iPhone 4s with 7.0.4 says blocking will block all incoming phone, text, etc. I look forward to a solution... Thanks.

My solution:

Send your contact an iMessage. Double-tap on the iMessage. A box pops up with an option to send it as a Text Message. (This option will only be available if the iMessage was not successfully sent.) Once you send it as a Text Message, your iPhone should remember this as the default.

I have a fun twist on this problem. My friend with a 5 switched to a G3. He "forgot" to disable iMessage. He read and followed instuctions on how to fix it (log in with Apple ID into an idevice, log out of imessage and all other Apple devices/apps, delete ID) and he also texted a number he found on a non-Apple forum that said it would disable iMessage issues when the other process didn't work. Now folks with 5 and lower can text him. My 5s still tries to iMessage though.

I've tried thesuggestions here in this thread on my end and no luck. His number will not disassociate from iMessage on my device, but did on others. Any ideas?

Here is my situation. A friend used to have an iPhone and he still has an iPad. He switched his phone to some Android phone. When I txt him he gets the txt on his iPad but not his phone. I cannot turn off iMessage (universally) on my iPhone because I need to be able to iMessage my son's wifi only iPad so iMessage is the ONLY way to txt him. Can I just turn off iMessage for an individual contact? OR does my friend need to turn off iMessage on his iPad?

I am also facing the problem and this is just a crazy problem we cant send text messages to somebody only because they have changed to some other phone and there is no warning when you turn imessage on, then why should you turn it off before switching. This is not a solution to the problem and Apple better takes care of this in next update because this is driving me crazy. If the messages are not received by them where do they go ?

No reason why we should turn off a feature like that. Please give a better solution

Turning iMessage off does not work as advertised. I have my iPhone 5S right here in my hand. I can turn off iMessage right now and uncheck all email addresses (essentially an iMessage exorcism) and a different iPhone with iMessage on (that I can see right now in front of my eyes) continues to send SMS as an iMessage and even says "delivered". Delivered my @$$.

Once I am able to rid iMessage from my phones I will never turn it on. My cell phone number belongs to ME not Apple. SMS is the most basic, and in times of emergencies, sometimes the most reliable of electronic communications. Don't eff it up.

Whether:

1. You put your sim in a non-apple phone (blasphemy to the cult members. What if it's an emergency phone for temporary use genius?) or

2. Choose to turn OFF iMessage on the iPhone you are holding in your hand, Apple should not break SMS. Period. Apple is causing people to miss SMS messges with iMessage.

No amount of apologetics will explain this away. It's a defective service that actually requires one to contact customer service to get YOUR NUMBER disassociated from it? What?

One more thing. Any solution that requires me to proactively contact every iPhone owner I know (seems like a lot) and ask them to do something on their phone for the privilege of sending me an SMS.... well, the rules on this forum prohibit me from accurately describing my thoughts on this matter.

jbhmacpro wrote:

blah, blah,blah

....

One more thing. Any solution that requires me to proactively contact every iPhone owner I know (seems like a lot) and ask them to do something on their phone for the privilege of sending me an SMS....

If every iPhone owner is NOT sending to your phone # (they are sending to your AppleID), they are not sending an SMS.

I have an iPhone 5 IOS 7.0.4. Never noticed that Apple had it's own messaging protocol until recently when my sister switched from an iPhone to an Android phone. She's called Apple support several times yet the problem persists - my iPhone still tries to message her using iMessage by default instead of SMS. Coincidentally, I'm also having the same problem sending iMessages to a friend who has an iPhone and hasn't changed anything. The fix that worked for me is very simple: on my iPhone, under Settings-->Messages, I enabled "Send as SMS" which is described as "Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable." Just sent an iMessage to my friend, and instead of failing and not sending the message, it automatically sent it SMS when it was not able to send it iMessage.