This article claims resetting your apple ID password will disassociate the imessage phone number: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5538
iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
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Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#22Did you try putting your SIM card back into your iPhone, then going to Settings > Messages and turning off iMessage over there? Make sure you have an internet connection too so it can "broadcast" your new status to Apple HQ. This is what I do when I'm abroad and don't want to dataroam. It's possible you already tried that and it won't make a difference - I don't use group messaging a lot.
Yeah, all that OP has to do is go into the settings on the iPhone and either unlink the phone number or disable iMessage entirely and it'll go back to normal. It just required some forethought other than simply wiping the phone. I don't understand what the issue is; the feature is there so that you can be iMessaged if your phone happens to be turned off for a few days.
If the phone number was de-linked immediately what would the use in that be? It expires after 10 days, anyway.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#23I'm experiencing the same problem, I've tried:
1) Turning off iMessage on old iPhone 2) Removing phone number from my Apple account 3) Friends removing my cell # from their address books
and a few other random things. Nothing has fixed it. The only way a friend with an iOS device can SMS me is if they turn of iMessage. This is a pretty huge bug on Apple's part.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#24I'm currently having to deal with this too. The best solution that I found was switching my number and keeping the iPhone, jailbreaking it, and installing BiteSMS with forwarding.
It's kinda a pain and of course I have to pay to keep the iPhone around.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#25If message histories are your only copy of family/friends photos, you're doing it wrong.
This is a such wrong reply. The OP did not complain about his message history, he was talking about message histories of all his friends and relatives. Do you really think it could be socially acceptable to approach each of your friends and relative and tell them: "If message histories are your only copy of family/friends photos, you're doing it wrong." ?
I don't even think it is acceptable to approach each of your friends and relatives and pester them with some technical issue that shouldn't exist in the first place. The proposed fix just isn't a viable solution.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
And it possibly costs you new business cards, and having to let everyone know that you have a new number, and changing any social profiles, etc. ...or Apple could stop making crappy software like this ;)
Unfortunately Apple has zero incentive to fix this bug. Why should they care about customers they already lost?
I try and be very helpful to customers I'm losing... they might come back one day or recommend someone to me.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#27I know it's annoying but the best solution here just seems to change your number. Don't lose your mind over this one. edit : seems like people don't understand my post. If you have a voice, the good thing to do is to make a blog post and submit it to websites like HN. The guy did it, now what can he do if he needs a quick fix? If he's in rush? Change number. It's really not that terrible and I do it every year withou…
What happens to the next person who gets that number?
if he doesn't have the same friends it's not a problem. I mean, he wrote that blog post, posted on HN and on various websites. It's getting attention. It's good. Now the guy still has to fix it so he can still contact his friends.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
And it possibly costs you new business cards, and having to let everyone know that you have a new number, and changing any social profiles, etc. ...or Apple could stop making crappy software like this ;)
Unfortunately Apple has zero incentive to fix this bug. Why should they care about customers they already lost?
Well, it will at least annoy their tech savvy customers since they know that it's Apple's bug.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#29I know it's annoying but the best solution here just seems to change your number. Don't lose your mind over this one. edit : seems like people don't understand my post. If you have a voice, the good thing to do is to make a blog post and submit it to websites like HN. The guy did it, now what can he do if he needs a quick fix? If he's in rush? Change number. It's really not that terrible and I do it every year withou…
Yes, asking everyone to use a new number is less work than asking people to delete all their imessage threads. Updating contact info at work and with services shifts the burden to him.
I don't get if your comment is sarcastic or not. If it is, I don't see why it would be such a huge problem. It's a quickfix and if I were him, and in a rush to fix the problem, I would do that. I'm personally changing my phone number every year and it's never been a burden.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#30Just think, if you hadn't used a proprietary messaging solution as your default contact method, you'd be able to easily control how you receive the messages. Maybe stuff like this happening is a good thing as it drills home the point the 'crazy free software lunatics' have been going on about for some time. Having this kind of thing happen to someone makes the stuff FSF+co says a bit more relevant and ultimately helps everyone.