How can I turn off all texting?

Question

Level 1

20 points

How can I turn off all texting?

I hate texting, or at least the ways my friends use it, which is simply annoying. I would like to remain available for time-sensitive texts, but 99% of what I receive are neither time-sensitive nor particularly important: at this point I just want to stop the madness. I don't want to get multiple stream of consciousness posts that are neither time-senstive nor require a reply. (Yes, I have tried to express this to the main offenders, multiple times.) For that matter, I also don't want spam from my carrier, certainly not 2 or 3 for every invoice (nearly due, due, processed by auto-pay... which was meant to let me ignore billing entirely!)

I'm just trying to explain why I want to do this: I'm not looking to be dissuaded. I know texting is a boon to others, just not me. When someone texts me they are far less likely to get my attention than with an email or phone call, both of which are higher priorities for me. The main impacts of texting on my life are annoyance and the increased likelihood I will miss something important.

I want my iPhone to be as if the iMessages app did not exist, but it turns out the app cannot be deleted. I want no ability to send or receive any sort of text or text attachments, other than email: NOT iMessage, MMS or SMS. I don't care about messaging capabilities within other apps, so they can stay. I just want to see written communications and associated attachments in my email and nowhere else.

Yes, I know I can turn off cellular data (workaround for SMS and MMS) and turn off iMessage (which only turns off the Apple messaging platform), but there are times I do want my cellular data available. Likewise I have seen the suggestion to use airplane mode. Those are great temporary fixes, but I'm hoping for a permanent one.

I checked with my carrier (AT&T) who have no solution. They have no service packages without texting; they have no way of restricting texting. Parental controls on the actual phone cannot do anything about this, as a different thread suggested.

Ideally the solution would let senders know their texts don't reach me each time they try to send.

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 7, iOS 10.3.1, null

Posted on Apr 29, 2017 2:09 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Michael Black

Level 10

80,430 points

Apr 29, 2017 11:58 PM in response to Grantb2

There is nothing you can do that will alert anyone that you are deliberately not receiving texts. If you disable iMessages, for example, they'll just get a delivery failure, but no indication why. The same goes if you had a voice plan only without text. Anyone trying to text you will just see delivery failed.

Notifications are also a one way they street. They either alert you, or not (if disabled) when an app setup in notifications receives some input. It tells the sender of that input nothing at all - they have no knowledge of your notification settings as those only affect your own device.

And yes, blocking blocks a contact - calls and text. iOS blocking does nothing at all to email.

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Answer 2

Apr 29, 2017 3:26 PM in response to Grantb2

How many people send you texts? You can just block each one as you receive it.

Turning off cellular data won't work. SMS texts are not sent by cellular data, they travel over the voice signaling channel.

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Answer 3

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,666 points

Apr 29, 2017 11:58 PM in response to Grantb2

You want a feature that the iPhone does not support. You might have to find another device if you cannot change carrier.

Your carrier can't help, so ask other carriers if they are able to provide what you need, it seems like Ting support rejecting send/ receiving of SMS…

https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205421938-Text-Messaging

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Answer 4

Grantb2 Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 29, 2017 4:45 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Is there an option to just block someone's texts and still receive their calls and emails? It looks to me like blocking applies to the contact globally: text, phone and even email.

But you're right to ask how many people are frustrating me over this, because it's really just one person who cannot get a clue not to text me – plus AT&T – but she's one of my best friends. I cannot explain to her again how much I hate texting because the main reason is that it screws up making plans with her frequently. I'll skip the details, but it's basically about missed connections because she matches the wrong communication mode with the time-sensitivity of the communication: emails for something urgent, rather than a phone call, for instance; and in the reverse, I am frustrated treating texts as though they are time-sensitive when they so rarely are.

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Answer 5

Apr 29, 2017 2:38 PM in response to Grantb2

In settings, messages, sign out of iMessage, and never sign back in. No more iMessages.

As as far as SMS/MMS, those are cell service provider features so you'd need to talk to them about disabling it on your account. If your current carrier cannot or will not disable texts, find one who will and switch.

In the meantime, maybe turn off notifications for messaging and set messages to delete every 30 days so they don't build up. Then just never open the messaging app.

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Answer 6

Grantb2 Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 29, 2017 3:20 PM in response to Michael Black

Thanks, Michael and Drew. Ting may be my best solution, but I need to spend time with coverage maps to check. They rely on Sprint and T-Mobile networks, which tend to be the weaker ones here in the West. I don't know if that really makes a difference anymore, especially for someone like me who is not totally reliant on their cell phone.

Turning off notifications is something I would like to avoid: While I'm not sure what a would-be texter will see if when I turn off texting, turning off notifications on my end definitely tells them nothing.

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