iMessage is not reliable - bug?

Ok, I believe I found the solution to the iMessage issue described in my original post. Basically, you need to turn iMessage off on all of your devices including your iPhone, iMac, iPad, etc. Otherwise, if your iPhone doesn't have a good data connection (wifi, cell data) then it may not receive all messages.

iPhone Instructions (you can use these instructions even if you still use an iPhone and haven't swtiched to an Android):

Can’t get text messages from an iPhone - Apple Support

iPad instructions:

Goto settings

Goto Messages

iMessage > Off

Mac instructions:

Launch messages app

Go to the Messages menu

Go to preferences

Click 'accounts'

Then click 'sign out'

For anyone who is new to this post, the core issue is this: on multiple occasions with iMessage enabled on all of my devices including my iPhone, I have returned home from being out and have found iMessages on my Mac/iPad that were never delivered to my iPhone. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that once an iMessage is delivered to any one device (like your iPad), it is counted as "delivered"... even though you never received it on your iPhone (probably due to a bad or weak cell data connection). The only way around this issue is to completely disable iMessage on all of your devices that are signed in with your AppleID, as described above.

As an FYI, this is an article about the issue where you will no longer receive all messages from iPhone users if you switch to another smartphone OS like Android. However, this not only happens for iPhone > Android but also iPhone > iPhone as I have experienced (as have others on this thread) if you don't have a good cell data or wifi connection:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/11/us-apple-lawsuit-textmessages-idUSKCN0 IV1TK20141111

I hope this info helps; I will no longer be posting to this thread.

Thanks, but I've never had an iMessage delivered to my iPhones when I am not connected to WiFi. I've had this problem with my iPhone 4s and now with my newer iPhone 5 (so I think getting a new phone counts as resetting phone and network settings). I have an unlimited data plan with good signal and speed. I've tried turning iMessage off and back on (as other discussions have suggested to fix iMessage problems) but that hasn't worked for me either.

When I mentioned this problem to the genius (I think that's what they are called, I'm not being sarcastic) at the Apple store (earlier this year when I upgraded from a 4s to a 5 due to battery issues) she said that "iMessage works best when you are connected to WiFi". So I interpreted that as "it doesn't work well with cellular data".

So if it's truly supposed to work with a cellular data connection, then I must have bigger issues with my account... or there is a problem with iMessage specific to my location.

Also, cellular data itself is sometimes unreliable. There are times when I can make a phone call (and send/receive text messages) but I don't have a cellular data connection. That's why I think that iMessages should be converted to regular SMS text messages (that all phones can receive) when an iPhone is not connected to WiFi. This would remove the uncertainty of a data connection since even the best data plans (Verizon, etc.) have dead spots. And usually in these cellular data dead spots, the basic phone/SMS functions still work.

To add to this, I've had the following conversation with people multiple times:

Them: I sent you a message/text, didn't you get it?

Me: No. Do you have in iPhone?

Them: Yes

Me: Well that's why. For whatever reason, I don't get many of my messages unless I'm at home.

So the bottom line with regards to messaging is this: I always receive texts reliably from people that don't have iPhones. But for people with iPhones, I've been telling them to call me if it's important. So with the invention of iMessage, Apple has made iPhone-to-iPhone messaging unreliable while non-iPhone-to-iPhone messaging is reliable.

I really think this is a major bug and I've turned off iMessage on all of my devices because of it. Instead of developing a new messaging system aka iMessage, I think it would have been better to instead develop a system that takes regular SMS text messages and delivers them to IOS devices. This would have maintained the rock-solid reliability of standard SMS text messages while still providing the ability to deliver text messages to other IOS devices.

Also, I'm not the only one with this problem, I have a coworker that had similar issues and I advised him to turn off iMessage as well.

I don't know if they are using the latest iOS as I have 200+ contacts and I'm sure at least half are using iPhones. But because of this issue, I've had my family and close friends turn off iMessage on their Apple devices so that I can receive their messages reliably. For the others, I don't really care but it's still annoying to get their messages on my Mac but not on my iPhone.

So maybe my cellular data isn't as reliable as I thought. Or my area has more cellular data dead zones than I thought. And maybe my account or my iPhone has some type of issue affecting my iMessages. But if I understand the iMessage system correctly, it requires a data connection to work properly (either WiFi or cellular). If that's the case, then by definition iMessages are basically the same as emails (as both require a data connection). Real SMS text messages do not require a data connection which is what makes them so reliable. Mixing SMS texts and iMessages together in the iPhone's Messages app is nonsense. And that's my bigger issue with iMessage: you're led to believe that iMessages are like text messages when in reality they are more like emails. iMessage should be a completely separate app from the SMS text "Messages" app - just like if you had Viber or some other messaging app installed.

Don't get me wrong, I praise Apple every chance I get since I think the OS and the platform are miles better than anything with a Windows sticker on it. At home, I only buy Apple products (except for the printer) since they are so much more stable and easier to use than anything that is not Apple. But I think Apple made a mistake when they mixed in and combined iMessages with SMS texts.

Email requires a data connection. When an email is sent to me, it's sent to all of my devices through iCloud. An email can have pictures. So how exactly is iMessage any different from an email? It's like some strange one-off messaging system that's straddling the gap between real text messages and emails.

I'll go to the Apple store to have them check my settings and my account again (just for peace of mind) but even if they do fix it, I think I'm better off just leaving iMessages disabled since they require a data connection. I don't want to miss any text messages even if I'm in a cellular data dead zone.

Thanks, I appreciate the info and the troubleshooting tips. After some thought, I've decided that I don't want and don't need iMessages due to the fact that they don't get delivered without a a good cellular data connection. I think iMessages are a novel idea, but it's just my opinion that the implementation is flawed (combining iMessages with text messages in the same app). I've also decided that I really don't need WiFi on my phone as I have a good cellular data connection here at home and would rather not have WiFi turned on 24/7 when I'm outside of my house for privacy and security reasons. And without WiFi, iMessages are even more problematic (in my experience).

So maybe it is just me, but while I've had issues with iMessages I've never had issues with text messages, so I'll just stick with text messages. I'm still curious as to the need/reason for iMessage given that we have email and texts. Perhaps it was pushed on Apple by the carriers... who would rather have the growing number of text messages routed via their cellular data network instead of via their standard cell phone network.

Thanks again.

Hmm, very interesting, so iMessage was an answer to expensive SMS text message rates. I remember those days. Good point, I do agree that having an iMessage on all of your Apple devices is very convenient and a nice feature. I guess that's a downside to having iMessage disabled - my text messages will only be delivered to my phone.

To your point, if Apple wanted to improve iMessage, they could develop a way to have standard text messages (sent by someone who doesn't have an iPhone) delivered to all of your Apple devices as well (via iMessage). So then you would truly receive all of your text messages on all of your Apple devices - even messages from people that don't have an iPhone. Otherwise, we still have to check the phone for text messages from the non-Apple crowd.

Nice! I guess it could be done by implementing a forwarding feature in iPhones to have iPhones forward SMS text messages to the iMessage system - thereby sending the text message to all Apple devices via iMessage.

Going back to reliability and the fact that many carriers have unlimited SMS text plans now, what I'd like to see is a feature/option to have the iMessage system send iMessages as true SMS text messages to iPhones... but as iMessages to all other devices. Then you'd have the best of both worlds working seamlessly - the reliability of SMS and the convenience of iMessage... and I would probably turn my iMessage back on then.