http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/ne...tch-to-android

"Three years on, and Apple has finally acknowledged the issue. "
"Pash noted that since, Apple has "completely hijacked" his text messaging and phone number portability, and the problem has not yet been fixed."

Surely there is an app for that, an Android iMessage one I mean.

Really?

I know a fix for that....

You do it via this link...
1) https://supportprofile.apple.com/MySupportProfile.do
2) login using your Apple ID details
3) Click on the ">" icon to the right of the phone listing and then click unregister.

Or just remember to turn off iMessage before you swap phones lol

There are limited reports of this not working. Although in my experience this always works with friends phones etc...

I had an iPhone 5S for several weeks and texted other iPhone using mates, using the iMessage. I haven't unregistered nor have I had any problems sending or receiving from those same people. Probably quite a rare (but very annoying no doubt) bug. I dare say most wont have any issues.

Worked for me when I changed to Windows phone, just turned off imessage before I put my sim in my Nokia

That's always worked for me whenever I've tried it. Just remove the old devices associated with the Apple ID and iMessage gets stopped.

As iMessage doesn't require you to use an Apple ID, there's certainly no guarantee that method will work.

You need to turn iMessage off on your iPhone and remove the associated telephone number for it to go back to text messaging.

You're missing the point. You shouldn't need the device that iMessage was activated on to be able to turn it off. Some people are losing or breaking iOS devices, then replacing them with other types of device - leaving them with no way to turn the feature off.

Apple needs to have a proper solution to this on the web so that you can simply say "I don't want iMessage on anything".

What you said I work in a phone shop and get a real buzz out of converting iphoners to DROID phones but unfortunately I see this is becoming more of an issue

You don't need the device - see Plymouth's post above.

The other ridiculous thing I've seen is a mate who changed phone number but kept his iphone. Depending on his connectivity (so whether it sent as text or imessage) it could appear to come from either of the two different numbers, the old number still being associated with imessage.

Could be interesting if he still has the phone when the old number gets recycled back into service...

As I (and the article linked) said before, that doesn't always work - hence the problem.

Even Apple is admitting that.

When it does work, it's a really ropey workaround at best.

I might be wrong, but I think you have to sign in using your Apple ID before you can activate iMessage.

Samsung do a how to
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/Su...0&fm_seq=62995

https://discussions.apple.com/thread...t=420&tstart=0
"Apple told me that my phone number is de-registered from their servers. However anyone who has sent an iMessage to me has cashed a token on their phone. I verified this on my friend's iPhone 5 with latest updates. That phone did not recognize me as a non iPhone user until I reset all settings on his phone.
Apple told me it would be almost a month before all iOS devices out there will refresh my token."
And that post looks a satisfactory explanation of why it takes up to one month before SMS rights itself on iFriends phones.

If this is correct as it looks, one would assume this was planned at inception. It is just too unlikely that the software engineers did not offer to cover this scenario. .

If you change your phone number, just turn iMessage off and back on.

Apple don't know that your phone number has changed...

I'd love to see you try to convert me to Android...

Will never happen

I moved from an iphone 5 to LG G2

I deactivated imessage on my handset before I sold it, once sold, I then went and removed my phone from my profile on apple's website

It took about 3 weeks before people with an iphone when sending me a text the send button turned from blue (imessage) to green (normal sms)

I just ran a little experiment on this.

I switched off iMessage on my iPhone and iPad (switched it off on my iPad so it wouldn't just deliver a message there) then almost instantly - about five seconds later - sent a message to me from my wife's iPhone.

It 'sent' as an iMessage but didn't come up with the 'delivered' notification. Then, a few minutes later after it wasn't able to be delivered, it sent the message as an SMS. Subsequent messages went as SMS automatically.

I'm not saying it always works like this for everyone, but this is how it's supposed to work. I think sometimes problems can arise if iMessage is switched off on the phone but there's another device still active that can receive them (like an iPad or Mac). Or, if the sender doesn't have 'send as SMS' enabled for fallback when iMessages can't be delivered. Although, if that's the case, they should get the notification that the message wasn't delivered.

I can't quite work out any uses of posting that.

To test iMessage you need to move the SIM to an alien phone

No, I was replying to the post directly above mine, about it taking three weeks before other iPhones stopped sending iMessages to the deactivated iMessage number..

This thing you talked about earlier, about 'cashing a token', doesn't sound right at all. The iMessage system checks for delivery every time, and if the message isn't delivered, it then resends the message as an SMS (providing this option has been enabled in the menu). It certainly shouldn't send phantom delivery notifications if the message hasn't been delivered anywhere.

Oh, and I see you couldn't resist another conspiracy theory, that Apple have caused these issues deliberately to prevent people from leaving the ecosystem.

Yes, by fudging it and giving misleading information?
Bravo for you confirming that if you do not leave Apple you do not loose incoming SMS.

I'm still well puzzled as to why you did an Apple to Apple SMS test.
Assuming all is correct the lost SMS situation has been there for 3 years now.

Apparently the fix after removing your Apple ID SMS number attachment is to get all your Apple using friends to reset their phone and/or delete you and re-insert you as a fresh contact.

If you think about the huge number of iphones there are and the tiny issue this is, it is just the normal case of the press making copy out of the popularity of apple products in the hope that some gullible fools will jump on it thinking it is the norm. Lucky for them they have a barrel full of fish in this forum

It's amazing that it becomes such a concern to those that claim to not own any apple products.

Away from the 'it affects a tiny percentage, cos who would leave Apple',
they are rightly getting sued on this one. (neigh on impossible for them not to know about it)
http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/16/apple-...android-users/

" The suit is based on contractual interference and unfair competition laws."
"AppleCare employees are suggesting users not receiving messages ask contacts to delete and re-add them as a contact."

I just had a quick check of Wikipedia's history.
I spotted that several still existing more minor flaws in the system were deleted so sure enough, it only reads like an advert. (could not be bothered to delve more to find this one)

A shame really, Wikipedia was meant to be an impartial and informative entity, not a marketing vehicle.

Let's see how the court case gets on.

As for your "rightly getting sued on this one", maybe everyone should sue for all bugs they find on a platform.