Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iMessage purgatory

adampash.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 172 posts

Re: iMessage purgatory

#121

Post by deong »

prutschman wrote: post #58

Google Hangouts on my Android phone keeps bugging me to intergrate SMS into Hangouts, as well as to "confirm" my mobile number. My fear is that something analogous to the iMessage "purgatory" might happen, though I haven't heard of anyone experiencing it.

As of now, there's nothing to worry about. The problem with iPhones occurs because (1) Apple's implementation is apparently crappy, and (2) Apple tries to treat SMS and iMessage as just two identical channels through which a message can be received. You send a message to a person, not a phone number or iMessage account, and Apple figures out how to route it. The problem occurs when they guess wrong.

Google isn't doing #2. The SMS integration with Hangouts is limited to just showing your SMS and IM messages in one view. When you send a message, you send it through one channel or the other explicitly. Google doesn't ever guess how you wanted to send it, so they can't guess wrong.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#122

Post by voltagex_ »

ccozan wrote: post #64
gonehome wrote: post #19

Even more frustrating, reading this just reminds me how much better the google voice solution to this problem is and it predated iMessage by several years. Google has just let it atrophy - then they introduced hangouts late (relative to other chat apps in the market) and still have not integrated the google voice features or pushed them with android. Does anyone who works at/worked at Google know why this happened? W…

To be honest, Hangouts of Google does a pretty nice job of SMS integration and multidevice communication. First: if a person has SMS and also a google account, they are just put toghether under the same hood, but they don't get mixed, just get sorted. An SMS goes associated with the number so I would not receive a SMS as a talk message or what ever. Second: if I am getting a message ( over Gtalk or Hangouts ) all my…

Not quite. I have a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 5. If I turn my 4 on, I'll get notifications (and sound/vibration) only on the 4, until I start using the 5 again. Strangely this doesn't seem to hold true if I use Hangouts on my computer (messages alert all devices)

Re: iMessage purgatory

#123

Post by mmwtsn »

miketuritzin wrote: post #93
Reich wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

EVERY time someone calls with this issue, it is fixed with the click of a button that deauthorizes their iMessage token. This is false. I just called 1-800-MY-APPLE (details in my reply to GP) and they said I had already deactivated iMessage for the number and that I needed to tell all of my friends to delete their existing threads with me. And then even that did not fix the problem.

I switched to a Nexus 5 recently. I deactivated iMessage, ensured my phone was no longer registered with Apple and asked friends to delete existing conversations.

It has been about a week and I still cannot receive text messages from iPhone users I've iMessaged in the past.

What is perhaps most frustrating is that Apple seems incapable of changing the situation. Adding insult to injury, Apple is requiring that I pay a $20 fee to speak with a technician.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#124

Post by benhansenslc »

I switched to an Android phone 3 weeks ago and I am also still not receiving texts from iPhones. Apple's customer support said the same thing to me as they did to you. They told me that one customer had to wait 40 days before they were fully removed from the system. I am just hoping that it gets fixed for me by the time 40 days has come around.

I filled a complaint with the FCC at https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form2000.action?form_type.... It is a form for complaints against wireless carriers for number portability issues.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#126

Post by NathanCH »

dfc wrote: post #81
kennywinker wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While color coding totally serves a useful purpose, it's also DEFINITELY used by some as a indicator of status or inclusion in a group. People are super tribal, and will use any indicators available to indicate inclusion or exclusion.

Think different...

Oh cmon, how is this any different from Google Hangouts? Messages sent from Google Hangout's are green, and default SMS is grey.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#127

Post by sdm »

superuser2 wrote: post #63
unfunco wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people with iPhones are still Apple's customers, and it's their messages that are disappearing. That's a perfectly good case for a CAL. Suppose that someone tried texting someone for medical assistance (silly, I know...), and that message was not delivered because the recipient changed their phone but kept their number, is that the fault of the person that changed their phone or is it the fault of Apple for not b…

>not being able to realise that people might someday want to change devices? They did realize it. There are two mechanisms for handling this issue - turning off iMessage in Settings before deactivating your iPhone, and calling Apple after deactivating your iPhone. Both are documented. There is no way for your iPhone to know it's been deactivated and still communicate with Apple. If anything it's the fault of the carr…

The problem is that there are so many edge cases with this. iMessage is a group messaging platform. Replacing SMS is just a small part of what it covers. You might be switching away from you iPhone but you still want to be able to use it on your iPad or Mac. It would be much better if Apple introduced a separate SMS application or created / supported iMessage on other platforms.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#128

Post by benhansenslc »

superuser2 wrote: post #63
unfunco wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people with iPhones are still Apple's customers, and it's their messages that are disappearing. That's a perfectly good case for a CAL. Suppose that someone tried texting someone for medical assistance (silly, I know...), and that message was not delivered because the recipient changed their phone but kept their number, is that the fault of the person that changed their phone or is it the fault of Apple for not b…

>not being able to realise that people might someday want to change devices? They did realize it. There are two mechanisms for handling this issue - turning off iMessage in Settings before deactivating your iPhone, and calling Apple after deactivating your iPhone. Both are documented. There is no way for your iPhone to know it's been deactivated and still communicate with Apple. If anything it's the fault of the carr…

I wipped my iPhone which required my Apple ID and password (so Apple knows the device was deactivated) and I called technical support to confirm iMessages is deactivated for my account and three weeks later I am still not receiving messages from people with iPhones. The problem isn't that you have to call Apple but that even after calling them they are not able to help!

Re: iMessage purgatory

#129

Post by dragonwriter »

NathanCH wrote: post #126
dfc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think different...

Oh cmon, how is this any different from Google Hangouts? Messages sent from Google Hangout's are green, and default SMS is grey.

iMessage uses shading based on transport (SMS/MMS vs. iMessage) for both your messages and others, but from looking at my own mixed SMS/MMS/Hangouts threads, Google uses green for your outbound messages sent with Hangouts, and grey for your outbound SMS/MMS messages and all incoming messages (with "via SMS" and "via MMS" alongside the time display on in- and out-bound SMS/MMS messages.)

So, to the extent that the Apple behavior can be seen as signalling in-group membership with color of messages, it is distinctly different from Google Hangouts, since the only person whose messages are colored to indicate delivery method in Hangouts are yours, not the ones you receive from others.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#130

Post by kennywinker »

NathanCH wrote: post #126
dfc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think different...

Oh cmon, how is this any different from Google Hangouts? Messages sent from Google Hangout's are green, and default SMS is grey.

I would find it VERY surprising if those colour choices were purely accidental, wouldn't you?

On iOS, messages were always green, until the introduction of iMessages. The blue colour is therefore associated with newness. Like when you open a skeuomorphic iOS 6 app and no matter if you like the interface or not it's associated with an older.. dare I say "dated" look and feel.

On Android I don't know the history, but I do know that grey is definitely less vibrant than green... grey is dull, faded, old, etc.

I mean, we can argue about the size of the impact of these choices, but you must agree there was some intention to them.

Post reply on HN