HT204065: If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Learn about If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
SirAngler1

Q: Some iPhone messages not delivered (sent to different number than entered).

SOME of my iPhone Messages are saying, "Not Delivered." My carrier confirmed that in these cases the message (text) is being sent to a different number than the one I am entering. (For example: I enter 801-123-4567, and the iPhone is sending to 18-123-4567.) I have followed ALL of the steps in the Apple Support article HT204065," If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch." https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204065

 

I believe this defect may be a result of miss-entering a phone number and not discovering the error until after I already tried texting to it. Correcting the Contact's miss-entered information does not change the number the iPhone tries to text to.

 

Again, I have done all the steps in the Apple Support Article HT204065:

Made sure that iMessage, Send as SMS, or MMS Messaging is turned on.

Made sure the recipient's contact information is correct and not blocked.

Deleted existing conversations (and also past recipient records.)

Restarted my iPhone and made sure all software is up-to-date.

Checked the iMessage system status.

Turned iMessage and FaceTime off and back on.

Signed out of iCloud.

Reset my network settings.

 

I tried putting my iPhone chip in a different Android phone and iPhone and both let me successfully text the problem contact. When I put the chip back in my iPhone I get the "Not Delivered" message again.

 

It does not matter if I enter my Contact's name or number. The error persists.

 

I discovered this problem because I could not text my son (Android phone). I went to the Apple store and they used iTunes to reset my phone, then told me to go home and use iTunes to restore it. Unfortunately, iTunes restored the defect too. So, I went back to Apple and they had me reset my phone again and this time use iTunes as if my phone was a new iPhone where I had to selectively put things back on my iPhone. It took all day to re-transfer Apps, music, podcasts, etc. And, two more days to get everything mostly restored. Unfortunately in the process I lost a lot of my Contact information and much of it was restored from iCloud (which had lots of old and incorrect information) instead of Address Book. (Frankly, I would like to get iCloud, Address Book and iOS Contacts to all be synced, but I found it so confusing that every time I try to do anything with any two of these three things I loose data or it is corrupted. But, that's another issue, so let's not address it here. I only mention it because it contributes to the problem of restoring my iPhone.)

 

Now I can text my son, but iTunes restored my daughter's number without a an area code and I texted her (also, Android phone) and now the same thing is happening with her: "Not Delivered." I can't bear to spend another three days trying to fix this.

 

When I correct information in Contacts, my iPhone should start using the new information, not keep trying to use old information.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4.1

Posted on Sep 13, 2015 8:43 AM