This again? FFS RTFM...
iMessage purgatory
111–120 of 172 posts
Re: iMessage purgatory
#112Sounds like it would be easier to find new friends. Seriously though, iMessage should have some sort of interoperability on other devices, even if its just a web interface you can log into to make configuration changes, including the deletion/deactivation of an account associated with a mobile phone number. Edit: Or even monitoring iPhones associated with a number and disabling iMessage if said phone is no longer onl…
It does. Log into your Apple ID at https://appleid.apple.com and un-associate your phone number. Though this only works if you attached your iPhone to your Apple ID in the first place. The phone bugs you about it repeatedly but many people do not do so.
> Log into your Apple ID at https://appleid.apple.com and un-associate your phone number.
The only thing available related to the web interface accessible from that URL that is similar to that is that you can alter contact phone numbers (daytime, evening, and mobile) associated with your Apple Account, it doesn't say anything about iMessage associations.
So, if that's the way to do it, its interesting that: 1) There is nothing in the UI that indicates that it has that effect, and 2) Apple's own help page directs you to call support rather than doing that.
Re: iMessage purgatory
#113I went through this last month when I switched to the Nexus 5, had no clue I wasn't getting messages until someone with an iPhone tweeted at me asking why I as ignoring them. However, all it took from me was a call to Apple's customer service, I told them I had just switched off my iPhone and no longer got texts from people with iMessage and they immediately sent me to a tech that fixed the problem for me. Have you b…
This is the proper response. I feel like the linked post is just a reason to bash Apple. As someone who used to work in their tech support (and has no real feeling about the company good or bad), EVERY time someone calls with this issue, it is fixed with the click of a button that deauthorizes their iMessage token. I know a lot of people are saying that this shouldn't even have to be a step when you switch phones, bu…
In my case, my new number (for my android phone) is associated with someone else's iPhone. I could not de-authorize that person's iMessage token. I handpicked that number but had to give it up thanks to iMessage's implementation.
Re: iMessage purgatory
#114My friends and I have never ran into this issue switching from iOS to Android. The main thing to do is to disable iMessage on your old iPhone before you get rid of it; that should unregister it on Apple's servers. If you do that, then you should be unregistered unless you have another device hooked up (i.e. Mac).
Re: iMessage purgatory
#115I find it interesting how so many people still find it acceptable in 2014 to be using a "phone number" as their id. It's a number you can't even pick yourself: you _pay_ to get a randomly assigned digits, at best with the ability to reroll (also not always free). To me, it feels like someone using an `@aol.com` email in 2014. Or a rotary phone.
The phone number is a backwards compatibility feature. We have modern ways of locating a user (see SIP, Email), but those won't be compatible with POTS. The use case here, Apple's iMessage, in fact allows users to use alternate methods of user lookup, including multiple email addresses. If you don't find it acceptable, what do you propose as an alternative?
> If you don't find it acceptable, what do you propose as an alternative?
So far, the best alternative for id that I've found is...
Email address.
It's highly available, free to create, and you can pick your own letters/numbers that are meaningful. It can even be your name. Definitely better than phone number digits at being an id that I can share with my friends or those who I want to be able to contact me.
(For voice calls, I primarily use FaceTime Audio because they support email as id. But I also have skype, voip number for backwards compatibility, etc.)
Re: iMessage purgatory
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
She could disassociate the phone number from her computer's iMessage account (Preferences -> Accounts). Then messages to her number would always go to her phone, and messages to the email account would go to the computer.
Thanks -- that's a good idea. I'll have to point that out to her.
The point is, why should you have to point that out? iOS 8 had better make it obvious -- "oh, I don't have data on my phone, so make sure it gets sent as an SMS too!"
Re: iMessage purgatory
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
My sister has an iPhone, but no data plan. So, if she's out and I want to text her from my iPhone, she needs to make sure she doesn't have iMessages running on her computer at home. If it's on, I text her a bunch of times and I just get the blue bubbles. Then I get a bunch of SMS messages from her saying "where are you? why aren't you texting me back" and hilarity ensues. I guess I could just call her.
If you know she's out (and therefore unlikely to have access to iMessage) you can force an SMS. Press and hold the blue bubble and you will get the option to 'Send as SMS message'.
I know that game... Trying to grab and hold an iMessage in the process of it sending, to reveal the "Send as a SMS message" button before the option disappears.
Re: iMessage purgatory
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
She could disassociate the phone number from her computer's iMessage account (Preferences -> Accounts). Then messages to her number would always go to her phone, and messages to the email account would go to the computer.
Thanks -- that's a good idea. I'll have to point that out to her.
But then you get into a whole heap of problems with multiple threads.
Re: iMessage purgatory
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
The phone number is a backwards compatibility feature. We have modern ways of locating a user (see SIP, Email), but those won't be compatible with POTS. The use case here, Apple's iMessage, in fact allows users to use alternate methods of user lookup, including multiple email addresses. If you don't find it acceptable, what do you propose as an alternative?
> If you don't find it acceptable, what do you propose as an alternative? So far, the best alternative for id that I've found is... Email address. It's highly available, free to create, and you can pick your own letters/numbers that are meaningful. It can even be your name. Definitely better than phone number digits at being an id that I can share with my friends or those who I want to be able to contact me. (For voi…
Phone numbers are portable between providers, email addresses are not. So email addresses make worse identifiers (where consistency rather than encoded meaning is the important thing) than phone numbers.
(Also, the "pay to get a randomly assigned number" isn't always true: my Google Voice number was free, and I got to ask for particular digits string to be included and got to choose from a list of numbers that met that requirement.)
Re: iMessage purgatory
#120I have similar issues with an iPhone and iPad synced to the same account. Stuff is always out of sync.