pms7981
Level 1 (4 points)
iPhone

Q: Does "Find your iPhone" send automatic text messages, which do not appear on the phone?

I am on a prepay programme with my iPhone 5S.  Recently, I discovered that my phone balance was reducing, even though I was not using my phone at that time.  My local carrier has since advised my that my iPhone has been sending international text messages (which I cannot see on my phone), and that is due to "Antitheft" being activated in the settings on my phone and that I need to disable this.

1) I cannot find anything called antitheft on my phone - does anything like this exist?. 

2) I am now working on the assumption that maybe my carrier meant the "find my iPhone" and not Antitheft.  But does "find my iPhone" send text messages to a UK number, without any notification to me?

iPhone 5s

Posted on May 17, 2016 8:09 AM

by Templeton Peck,Solvedanswer
Templeton Peck Templeton Peck
Level 9 (62,070 points)
A:

1.  No.  Find My iPhone is probably what they're referring to.

2.  No.  SMS messages are sent to the UK for iMessage activation, which you will not be charged for if you are using your phone with a supported iPhone carrier.

Posted on May 17, 2016 8:29 AM

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pms7981

Q: Does "Find your iPhone" send automatic text messages, which do not appear on the phone?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Templeton Peck,Solvedanswer

    Templeton Peck Templeton Peck May 17, 2016 8:29 AM in response to pms7981
    Level 9 (62,070 points)
    May 17, 2016 8:29 AM in response to pms7981

    1.  No.  Find My iPhone is probably what they're referring to.

    2.  No.  SMS messages are sent to the UK for iMessage activation, which you will not be charged for if you are using your phone with a supported iPhone carrier.

  • by pms7981,

    pms7981 pms7981 May 17, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Templeton Peck
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    May 17, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Templeton Peck

    Thanks!!

    So, every time I send an iMessage, an sms gets sent to the UK for activation of that message?

     

    How do I disable iMessages?

  • by BBoiss,Helpful

    BBoiss BBoiss May 17, 2016 8:42 AM in response to pms7981
    Level 4 (1,404 points)
    Apple Music
    May 17, 2016 8:42 AM in response to pms7981

    Right, iMessage does an initial silent short code to your carrier to activate iMessage, but Find my iPhone doesn't send these as a means to keep your location up to date. It sounds like your carrier representative was stringing words together on their first week of work =\.

     

    Anything using location services will use cell/wifi data so if you are noticing a drain in your available data, that is why. Additionally, unlike dial-up, your connection to the internet is always maintained and constant. To do this, a small string of data is always trickling to keep this connection.

     

    Below are some useful articles that cover both battery and data (both are generally relevant to one another)

     

    Maximizing Battery

    http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

     

    About Cellular Data

    About cellular data settings and usage on your iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

     

    and just because I didn't see it mentioned, also check that automatic updates are disabled in your Settings>iTunes & App Store for your Apps when on Cellular.

     

    Follow these articles and you will be better for it.

     

    Best of luck!

  • by pms7981,

    pms7981 pms7981 May 17, 2016 8:43 AM in response to BBoiss
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    May 17, 2016 8:43 AM in response to BBoiss

    Thanks for the reply.

     

    Just to check,

    So, every time I send an iMessage, an sms gets sent to the UK for activation of that message?

     

    How do I disable iMessages?

  • by Templeton Peck,

    Templeton Peck Templeton Peck May 17, 2016 8:44 AM in response to pms7981
    Level 9 (62,070 points)
    May 17, 2016 8:44 AM in response to pms7981

    pms7981 wrote:

     

    Thanks!!

    So, every time I send an iMessage, an sms gets sent to the UK for activation of that message?

     

    How do I disable iMessages?

     

    No.  It will only send it once when you activate iMessage on your device.

  • by pms7981,

    pms7981 pms7981 May 17, 2016 8:52 AM in response to Templeton Peck
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    May 17, 2016 8:52 AM in response to Templeton Peck

    Thanks for the quick reply!!

     

    My phone appears to keep trying to activate iMessage every so often - I get a message saying that my carrier may charge me for the SMS for activation (even though I am able to send iMessages) and when I just checked it in settings, under iMessage, it said activation failed - any ideas what may be happening?

     

    For the meantime, I have had to switch off iMessage to stop this from happening.