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iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

blog.benjaminste.in

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Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#191

Post by ElDiablo666 »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #188
RyanZAG wrote: post #30

Just 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…

> Just 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. Apparently blaming the victim is totally okay as long as the victim was using a brand you don't like.

You've failed to understand on two levels. One, this is not a question of competing brands. That's a question of technology and not liberty, which is the point of the comment you replied to; if OP choose free software, it doesn't matter which "brand" he chose, there are a number of free application that do the same job.

Two, calling this victim blaming is a bit of a stretch at best and ridiculous nonsense at worst. Yes, what happened to OP is unfortunate but it's just a moderate inconvenience. It's not like someone drove their car over him or smashed his face in with a bat (he'll get over this much easier). The person you replied to therefore is not wishing serious ill will on him. They are simply saying they hope this mild inconvenience is enough to wake him (and others) up to the necessity of free software.

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#192

Post by jobu »

I've noticed lately that texts to people switching from iPhone to Android will fail and require user interaction.

When did this change? I recall texting a friend a couple years back, and it automatically failed over to SMS. I remember this explicitly because I was in Mexico at the time, and it led to a few extra bucks in special charges for texting in a foreign country.

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#193

Post by msh »

jobu wrote: post #192

I've noticed lately that texts to people switching from iPhone to Android will fail and require user interaction. When did this change? I recall texting a friend a couple years back, and it automatically failed over to SMS. I remember this explicitly because I was in Mexico at the time, and it led to a few extra bucks in special charges for texting in a foreign country.

It is a option on the sender phone if it should use system in case of failure. Maybe the default have changed?

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#194

Post by hrabago »

ElDiablo666 wrote: post #191
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just 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. Apparently blaming the victim is totally okay as long as the victim was using a brand you don't like.

You've failed to understand on two levels. One, this is not a question of competing brands. That's a question of technology and not liberty, which is the point of the comment you replied to; if OP choose free software, it doesn't matter which "brand" he chose, there are a number of free application that do the same job. Two, calling this victim blaming is a bit of a stretch at best and ridiculous nonsense at worst. Y…

> They are simply saying they hope this mild inconvenience If you read the post, you would know this is not a "mild inconvenience" for him. If you truly believe that, then I would contend you haven't experienced what it's like to lose a significant amount of personal data.

> is enough to wake him (and others) up to the necessity of free software. What free software was he and everyone he's communicated with in the past 5 years supposed to be aware of?

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#195

Post by sd8f9iu »

I had the same issue, and after isolating the problem to iOS clients like the author did, I had some success by having iMessage users remove and re-add me as a contact. Obviously not a good general solution, but it's better than having them delete every message chain.

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#196

Post by saltysugar »

kruk wrote: post #187
guelo wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SMS is interoperable between every phone and phone company on the planet.

not in Japan

Used to be like that, but they fixed it a while ago. Though sending messages across carriers is rather expensive.

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#197

Post by m_mueller »

morpher wrote: post #149
m_mueller wrote: post #11

Wouldn't it work to lend an iPhone, turn it on with the SIM holding the number and then switch off iMessages there? Wouldn't this invalidate the cached account in other iPhones?

No this does not work. Group MMS from iohones are still dropped (as the article clearly describes).

I don't see how the group MMS show that this wouldn't work - the question is whether cached accounts get purged through this client action, both on server and peers.

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#198

Post by saltysugar »

eridius wrote: post #161
nwienert wrote: post #36

This has been happening for over 2 years now. I've met multiple people in real life (including total non-techies) that have run into this. It's more common than you'd think. Basically anyone moving from an iPhone to Android (or any other phone I assume) will have this problem. At this point, it's obvious Apple is ok with this. It's a giant "fuck you" to anyone moving away from them and it leaves a bad taste in your m…

That's incredibly presumptuous of you to claim Apple is doing this purposely. It seems pretty obvious to me that it's a non-trivial fix for Apple, and that there's simply no good incentive for them to prioritize fixing this over the myriad other things their engineers could be spending their time on.

Apparently it doesn't have much priority on their list considering the problem has been around for two years. If you think about how fast the mobile landscape has changed, this is no excuse for Apple

Re: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced

#199

Post by CatMtKing »

Ah, this sounds familiar. I recently got a new cell phone number, using an Android phone. Some days later, a few of my fellow carpoolers told me after texting me that they were getting replies from someone else telling them they had the wrong number! I was stumped, until we noticed all the people who were failing to text me were using iPhones.

I texted my own number using one of their phones and asked the mystery recipient if she recognized my phone number. Apparently, it was her old number: still attached to her iMessage account. She removed it, but weeks later, I still don't receive any texts from iPhone users. Guess I'll have to check in with AT&T/Apple about it.

tl;dr: This bug can affect you even if you have never owned an iPhone.

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