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Level 1

5 points

Error Invalid Number message in texts.

I thought I fixed this problem a month ago per another discussion's suggestions.

I had been getting the "+1(1)216116-11 Error Invalid Number Please re-send using valid 10 digit number" message even though the numbers were 10 digit.

I deleted the contacts and texts. Updated software to current iOS 7.1. Powered off then back on. Then re-entered the info.

It worked until this morning with the same 2 random contacts. But it is my son and best friend. So now I am frustrated.

I have checked more discussions and the fixes seem to be random as well. Does anyone have any new ideas?

iPhone 5c, iOS 7.1

Posted on Apr 9, 2014 6:59 AM

Best reply

dcuno

Level 1

5 points

Posted on Jul 8, 2014 7:32 PM

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!

View in context

28 replies

Jun 20, 2015 12:31 PM in response to charlie358

The way I solve this was by deleting all of the text messages on my phone.

Jun 22, 2015 9:42 AM in response to phildennis

This is the only thing that worked for me. Thank you. It has been an infuriating few days.

Oct 10, 2015 10:07 AM in response to charlie358

I had the same problem; I was unable to send texts on my IPhone 6 to someone in my same area code. I tried going into Contacts and editing the phone number to add a 1 in front if the area code and it worked! Hope this helps someone else. Good luck.

Dec 8, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Universum01

Universum01's fix worked for me for SENDING. I get the same error message if I try to REPLY to a message from the problem number, so I can communicate only by sending (going directly to the Contact and sending message from there). Better than nothing and better than resetting network, throwing out all texts, etc. Thanks, Universum01 🙂; no thanks to Apple 😟

Dec 9, 2015 9:02 PM in response to Michiganne

Hmm, try this:

Remove all text messages from that person, including group messages.

Remove all contacts with the number in them (if you have more then one contact for the person)

Then make a new message, start to type that contacts name in the TO field, the contact will likely still come up, there will be a blue i next to it, tap that and pick the option for Remove from recent from the list that pops up. Do this for all contact names you had that number under.

After all that fun stuff redo the steps in my post above and let me know what you get.

Dec 14, 2015 5:25 PM in response to Universum01

After some more testing it seems there is no fix, you can SMS the person but cannot reply, just have to wait till apple fixes it.

Feb 5, 2016 1:21 PM in response to dcuno

Thank you dcuno!!!!!

This worked. I had deleted all txt, removed contact, etc. but the deal killer for me was the group TXT's! When I deleted those too it all got better. Yea!

Jul 29, 2016 9:16 AM in response to dcuno

Thank you! I was really annoyed when this started happening and your solution worked!

Oct 6, 2016 11:18 PM in response to charlie358

I found a simple solution. I opened a new thread to text a friend. Apparently, iPhone didn't like that. I deleted the new thread, scrolled way down to the original thread, and texted from there. Message sent. NO ERROR MESSAGE!

This was all done within the text message App. No deleting contacts, messing with the settings, or any of that foolishness.

Jan 3, 2017 2:56 PM in response to Coolaper

They may have accidentally blocked your texts this recently happened to me once and i found out i had been blocked

Jul 6, 2017 3:59 AM in response to charlie358

This was very helpful! Thanks!!!!!

vallank

Level 1

4 points

Sep 12, 2017 1:28 PM in response to Universum01

This worked!

Oct 26, 2017 7:59 AM in response to dcuno

This was awesome! I tried several things and NOTHING corrected the problem until I tried this ! Worked like a charm! Many thanks dcuno! 😀

Error Invalid Number message in texts.