Remove phone number from iMessages

Question

Remove phone number from iMessages

So I recently switched from an iPhone to an Android. I have factory reset the phone and linked it to someone else's Apple ID, removed my phone number from my account and de-registered the device (I have called Apple Support twice to confirm this) but still cannot receive text messages from iPhone users. I have done some testing and found that if someone who has never texted me before on an iPhone texts me, the messages are green (SMS) and I recieve them on my Android but for friends who I constantly text and already have a conversation with the messages are blue (iMessage) and the messages don't reach me. Before I de-registered my number and device the texts got redirected to my iPad or iMac but since I de-registered it they go nowhere, not my Apple devices or my Android. I have called Apple support and they told me to tell all my friends to delete their previous message convos with me and start a new one. There has to be an easier way, I don't want to ask them to delete entire conversations because some of them are group texts and it doesn't seem fair to ask them to do this when it's really my problem. Also, it's quite inconvenient to text EVERY single person I know who has an iPhone and has talked to me before. There must be something I can do on my end. Thanks in advance!

iPhone 4S, iOS 7.1

Posted on Mar 26, 2014 5:38 PM

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Answer 1

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Mar 26, 2014 5:50 PM in response to caramelfraapp

If you already turned off iMessage, then you need to contact Apple Care. Tell them you need to disassociate your number. See this support document for help when you call them. This should take about 5 minutes. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5185

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Answer 2

Mar 26, 2014 6:20 PM in response to caramelfraapp

Gah! This drives me crazy! If we are telling you that a solution is the only way, IT'S THE ONLY WAY. Yeah, maybe it is inconvenient, but you know what? You have a lot of work to do when switching between phone, regardless of the brand. This just happens to be one of those things. If a rep told you that you had to text every person with an iPhone and tell them that, chances are that your iMessage is already deregisterred, so it's THE OTHER PERSON'S phone that can't send you messages. It's not your phone doing it, so there is nothing YOU can do, except help THEM fix it. Text everyone you know who has an iPhone and tell them to delete their message thread. That's the only solution other than switching back to your iPhone.

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Answer 3

Mar 28, 2014 1:16 AM in response to Britstar12291

Well actually the root of this problem is iMessage so it is not "regardless of the brand". I know there is a lot of hassle in switching phones but this is not an issue most people face unless they have an iPhone. You're right the problem isn't my phone but it's also not my friends phones fault, it is a fault in Apple's iMessaging system and their inner networks. If you have an iPhone and meet someone new who also has an iPhone and type in their number to text them, the iPhone is smart enough to automatically detect it's an iPhone and will send blue iMessages. So WHY can't an iPhone automatically detect when a number is not/no longer an iPhone!?!?! Either this is a fault in the system that Apple needs to fix, or it's a method for them maintain a hold on their customers because some people don't want to deal with the inconvenience. And when you say "if we are telling you this is the only way" do you mean you work at Apple? If so maybe you should bring this issue up with your supervisor or anyone who works in the Apple ID/iMessaging department.

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Answer 4

Mar 28, 2014 1:57 PM in response to caramelfraapp

Firstly, when I mentioned that "regardless of the brand" thing, I was talking about the general work needed when switching between phones. Like moving over all your data and sometimes telling everyone you have a new number, things like that. Secondly, it IS your friends phone. When you have a message thread, your phone will automatically send it to the same place throughout the entire thread. The exception to this rule is with iMessage. The iPhone DOES have the ability to tell when it's sending an iMessage or a text message, and the way it does this is it checks if the other person has iMessage turned "on". Technically speaking, the iPhone even knows when the iMessage is deactivated. UNLESS YOU HAVE THE SAME THREAD GOING ON FROM WHEN IMESSAGE WAS STILL ACTIVE. Your friends need to tell the iPhone "send messages to a different place now" by deleting the thread and starting a new one. It is a smartphone, but it's still a machine. It still needs a human to tell it what to do. This has nothing to do with iMessage working improperly, it's all to do with users not communicating with their devices.

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Answer 5

Mar 28, 2014 1:59 PM in response to caramelfraapp

Also, I used to work for apple not that long ago, and I can tell you that there is nothing to communicate to them, because there is nothing wrong with iMessage. It works exactly like it's supposed to. You're just expecting it to do more because you don't understand how it works. These devices are meant to be helpful and convienient, but they are not incorporated with A.I. technology. They can't actually think.

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