Error Invalid Number message in texts.

I had this same issue to a number I had been texting daily for months! After I tried everything--I figured it out! Even after I deleted the contact and set it all back up again, it still wouldn't work and I would get the "+1(1)216116-11 Error Invalid Number Please re-send using valid 10 digit number" error message. BY chance, as I was typing in the number for a new trial text, the number popped up from "recent history" (the list of all recent texts to that number or name). Even though I had deleted ALL texts to and from her and all contact info, the number was still stored elsewhere. It dawned on me that her number and her contact info was stored in the memory as "recent text history". I had to delete every instance of a text that had her number in it (including group texts), then when I reentered it, it worked! I believe the whole thing started when someone had her incomplete number in a group text, and from then on, it was getting her number from that recent text instead of mine! I found it by accident and there HAS to be an easier way, but here are the steps:

1. Delete the name and number from your contact

2. Start a new text by typing in the first letter or so of the person's name (or the digits of the number) and they should still pop up in a drop down box

3. Instead of selecting it for the text recipient, select the little "i" beside it and a new menu will pop up (that is the RECENT menu)

4. Select REMOVE from the top right corner

5. Do this for every instance with the name and number in it

6. Try a new text--nothing should pop up when you enter the number if everything is removed. It should now work

Hope this helps someone else!

A Solution:

I work ATT Tech support, why after 3 IOS versions they have not fixed this yet is mind boggling but anyhow, i have a fix that works every-time iv used it for people. Go to Notes app> Type out the persons number, EX: 123-456-7892 but without the dashes 1234567892 and change the last number to a letter. EX: 7892 changes to 789A aka 123456789A

Then select and copy that number/letter combo> Go to that persons contact and edit out there number and replace it with this Via paste(you can't enter Letters into the contact directly so you have to use notes to change the number this way)

After that just send a message to that persons contact name.

So contact John will have a phone number of 123456789A and i will send a message to John.

If the last number of the contact is:

2 then you can change it to A or B or C EX 9999999992 = 999999999A Or 999999999B Or 999999999C

3 = D Or E Or F

4 = G Or H Or I

5 = J Or K Or L

6 = M Or N Or O

7 = P Or Q Or R Or S

8 = T Or U Or V

9 = W Or X Or Y Or Z

If there number ends in 1 then i have no fix for that, will have to wipe the phone or use a 3rd party app as i don't think apple will ever patch is -_-

dcuno, Your procedure didn't work for me at first, but I tried it again and then reset my iPhone by holding down the home and the power button. The problem went away. Thanks!

I have gone through ALL the steps, (over & over again), to try to fix this problem and still cannot text that person. After attempting to text through other devices, I am getting the same error message. Maybe it is something wrong on their end. Any thoughts?

It seems the number is invalid so AT&T respond back saying that "at&t +1 (1) (216)116-11 error invalid number please resend using 10 digit mobile number"

If you are using the right number and you know for sure it is a working number, try delete the number in question that you try to text to like call history or text history of that number and just delete it. Do not delete the number in your contacts though. Delete history pertaining to it in calls and text.

Then try it again to text to the number.

ME TOO!!! I had this problem with two people on my iphone5 and recently purchased the 6. Now those two people I am able to text normally on new phone BUT I am getting this message when I text my co-worker. I have tried almost every suggestion on here!! I wonder if I have to do all these steps of clearing recent history on ipad and MacBook that are connected to my phone. Someone help us!

try resetting the network settings

settings>general>reset>reset network settings

(this will reset wifi passwords and bluetooth pairings)

if that doesn't work, maybe a restore in iTunes

The fix to this problem is easy, and the steps are set out here: http://edctips.blogspot.com/2014/09/fixing-iphone-texting-problem.html

worked like a champ!

At first I could not get this solution to work.I followed the steps exactly but then I discovered that the number was buried in some group texts. After deleting every group text with the number in it the problem was solved. Thanks for the very useful post. ATT didn't have a clue how to solve it.

thank you so much for posting this! I tried everything and only your steps helped me. I even shared it with the tech support helping me. thank you, thank you.

All those steps have not helped me, but after completing the steps described here I also did the following, and it worked! After removing the phone number from recent memory and deleting it from the contacts, I also had to delete all texts history from my other contacts who have ever included this phone number in their texts. So seems like if you have that phone number stored in some other texts or group texts, you will need to delete all those to get the result. If you are not sure, just delete your entire text history with all contacts (I know its hard to impossible to do given all the info we store in our text messages), but that was the only thing that eventually worked for me. Hope this helps

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I tried everything I could glean from the net to fix the text error I was receiving from ONE number in my contacts list which happened to be my significant other. I would send a text using the 10 digit number alone but almost immediately I would receive the error message with the number I had sent the text to now in a 7 digit format with the area code missing. I cleaned out that contact info from everywhere I could find it on my Iphone 4s but it would do the same error message each time. So I removed my SIM and put it in an old android I had and brought up the contacts and sure enough the problem contact was the first listed and the number was stored in both 7 digit and 10 digit format on the SIM card. I deleted the 7 digit entry on the android and resaved the info to the SIM. I then did a restore on my 4s through Itunes. After rebooting I checked that there were no contacts stored then went to Setting-Mail,contacts,Calendars-IMPORT SIM CONTACTS. I have sent 3 successful txts so far. I just rebooted my 4s and it is still working. Good Luck.

I ran into this problem after accidentally entering a 7 digit number for a new contact. I tried everything listed on this thread and elsewhere on the net - deleting the contact, the message history, the phone call history; searching and removing from the recents list, resetting network settings, restarting the phone, and even resetting 'all settings' but nothing worked - whenever I would attempt to send to the 10 digit number I would get back the 'invalid number' text referencing the 7 digit number.

Finally I came up with a work-around: you should be able to trick the phone by switching out one of the last 7 digits for the corresponding letter on the phone keypad - for example instead of 5121234567 use 512123456p. This at least lets me text the offending number, but it is not ideal as I can't reply back directly in the same text thread - I have to go back to the work-around number to send a reply.

This was an INFURIATING problem and really puts a dent in my opinon of Apple that they have let this issue fester for years, apparently. How hard could it possibly be to simply use the number currently associated with the contact, or reply back to the same number received from?

Anyway do try all the other fixes first, but switching out a number for a letter might just help as a last resort. Good luck.

I just fixed this problem! After deleting the contact and all threads that include the number, try resetting the network. If that still doesn't fix the issue, try clearing Safari cookies (Settings -> Safari -> Clear History and Website Data). Then reset the network settings again (Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings) and you should be able to type in the 10-digit number and successfully and send a text!