Yup, have been hit by this, but not as bad as I use both platforms. Glad you wrote about it though.
iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
41–50 of 237 posts
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#42I had the same issue when switching to a Nexus 5. https://appleid.apple.com Try going here and removing the phone number from the "Phone Numbers" section. I still have friends who try to message me and their iOS assumes I'm using iMessage. The "retry as SMS" feature is the only method that works.
Also make sure to tell them "Send as SMS" is enabled on their iMessage settings. This will automatically try to re-send it as a text without manual intervention.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#43Preventative step: set your outbound iMessage "caller id" to your email address instead of your phone number. Do this now, before you're bitten by the bug. (Apple's degraded QA as of late on iOS means you'll also have to change it back on ALL your devices on the account any time you add or remove any devices or numbers to iMessage or FaceTime on that Apple ID, too.)
This way, all your contacts are iMessaging with your email address, not your phone number. It means it will keep working when you travel internationally and switch SIM cards, and it means you can disable it easily via your Apple ID should you ditch the iPhone.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#44Earlier 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?
So when a new potential customer comes in, they don't have to worry about vendor lock in.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#45I 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…
I've had the same number for 16 years. Ported it between four different networks.
(I still get recreuiters calling who have clearly only read a CV of mine from 10 years ago.)
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#46Did 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.
"Let me recap: I no longer have iPhone"
This would also work if a friend lent him their phone.
Of course, he'd have to do a backup > wipe > setup phone with his iCloud account & SIM > change settings > wipe > restore from backup... but, honestly, this is the process I had to do and it took about 5-10 mins tops.
I had this same exact problem, and this was by far the easiest solution. Just need to have a friend willing to you let you manhandle their phone for a little while.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#47Changing my iTunes password worked for me.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#48I had this same issue, it was so bad I just went back to the iPhone.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#49I know a ton of people who have this problem, it's a huge issue. My mom recently switched to a Moto X and couldn't get any text messages from my sisters. When she called Apple for support, they told her they would not help her unless she paid a fee for phone support. Read that again: they wanted her to pay extra money to properly leave their ecosystem. If they wanted her to come back to Apple it backfired, she'll never touch another iDevice after that snub.
Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced
#50Just 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 help…
So, what's an open-source alternative to iMessage that lots of people use?