Long text messages turn into Chinese?

I'm experiencing the same thing. I use a MB Pro with OS X 10.12 and an iPhone 6s with iOS 10.0.2 (14A456) interchangeably with Messages synched via iCloud and when I send longer messages to my friend with a Samsung s4 my texts are like this (copied and sent back to me):

At first I thought that there might be an issue with my MB Pro occasionally being used with Simplified Chinese characters. So I disabled all but English in System Preferences > Language & Region > Preferred languages: but that didn't make a difference. Then I tried making sure that my iPhone was using the correct character set, so I went to Settings > General > Keyboards and made sure only English was active. I've also enabled Two-Factor Authentication by going to Settings > iCloud > (click on) Apple ID > Password & Security > Two-Factor Security just to ensure I wasn't dealing with a hack or something. I've also quit iMessages (or Messages, the two seem to be used interchangeably), gone into airplane mode, restarted my phone, disabled airplane mode, and rebooted Messages.

None of this seems to have made a difference.

I'm guessing it might have to do with the text encoding or something. Maybe it is a malware issue, who knows?

It seems that this could be a bug since several of us are experiencing this and it just started happening around the same time (after upgrading the OS's). So, APPLE, a bug-fix is needed ASAP or at least a work around until you get around to it, please.

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UPDATE: emoji use doesn't seem to matter...it happens with or without emojis. Also, the length of the message isn't always a determining factor. I send a multi-paragraph message to me friend earlier today and it went through fine. Then I sent one a third or less of that size and it was in Chinese.

This makes me wonder if the cellular carrier has anything to do with it. Mine is AT&T. I checked the AT&T forums and they say this is a known problem: https://forums.att.com/t5/Windows-Phone/messages-arriving-on-Chinese-characters/ m-p/4953003

I hope this helps.

Mine is doing this, too! I have an iPhone 6 on iOS 10. Last Tuesday, it started with my daughter. I sent her a text and she replied back "why are you typing in Chinese?" I wasn't. It was normal English on my end. She was the only one it was happening with, but today, I got a reply from my sister asking why my message was in Chinese. My daughter has a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. My sister has a Zte Maven. They don't have to be long messages either. So far, it's just those 2, but I don't text a lot of other people.

I have the same problem on iPhone 6. It started last week and already 3 people with different phones reported that received garbage messages from me. I send messages in Russian and English: Russian ones show up with a bunch on weird characters and squares, and English ones as Chinese. I also noticed that it's related to the length of the message. If a text contains just a few words, it's fine, but anything longer gets scrambled somehow.

I am also having this problem. I have an iPhone 6s iOS 10.0.2. On Sunday my husband who has the latest Google phone said some of my texts were in oriental characters. I just sent a couple sentences to my daughter who has an android phone and she said it was in Chinese. A follow up text to her was just fine. Both texts received in Chinese included a smiley face but doubt that is relevant. Anyone know what is going on and what to do? A quick poll of other family members who all have Apple phones of varying vintages reported no Chinese in their text messages.

So, i'm having this problem too, and think I've figured out that it happens when there's a word or phrase in my text message where there's an available emoji, and it turns those words orange to indicate that. If i do not click the word to change to the emoji (which i really never do, because really why would anyone want to translate half of an existing sentence into emojis ), but also have other emojis in the message, the receiver sees Chinese characters. Does anyone else see it happening like this?

I am having the same issue and I have AT&T as well. My husband has Verizon, the same phone I have and has no issues. I believe the problem lies with AT&T. I have tried everything to no avail. I will be going to AT&T tomorrow!

I have the same issue as well as on my phone or computer it looks fine. It is only happening when I send a text to someone. And I am not getting the orange to change the words. Anyone have an update?

Same issue here. iPhone 6S Plus running iOS 9.3.2 on AT&T. Tonight I also noticed when I used the wink emoticon on a Facebook post it was changed to the question mark in a box. I use that emoticon all the time and it's never done that before.

I use a phone app to send group text messages. In the last week my group text messages (sent to 300 people) are arriving to the recipients as Chinese characters. I believe it is an ATT problem. I need help. Kathy

A possible fix reported in the forums. I don't know whether it has worked for others.

"The Apple senior adviser recommended contacting Att again and have them reset my Sms relay which took 5 min. After convincing them to just do it. Anyway, it worked!"

https://forums.att.com/t5/Windows-Phone/messages-arriving-on-Chinese-characters/ m-p/4950571#M29237

Hopefully the link is above to the thread on the AT&T site. Hope this helps.

You might also be interested in this link for some more of the nitty-gritty:

Sent text messages are turning into Chinese

me too! have you found out what is causing it! i wondered if it was pertaining to the last apple update but it just started this week!

i have 6 plus also and have had it happen about 6 times now to 3 different people. I type in english and they receive in Chinese. All have been long messages only! Hope Apple will fix this soon!

Do you have any emojis in the text? If yes, try sending again by with no emojis.