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iMessage purgatory

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Re: iMessage purgatory

#131

Post by xarball »

kennywinker wrote: post #69
superuser2 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you propose they fix it? Integrating with the infrastructure of every carrier to detect when a not-iPhone is activated on a line previously occupied by an iPhone is probably expensive and invasive to carriers. Also you don't have to call tech support. You can deregister iMessage from Settings (by turning it off) before you activate a new phone.

The issue is a) communicating that to users. and b) Even if you know that, if your phone breaks and you revert to an older phone or a cheap android to tide you over... you didn't get a chance to sign out. I'd say the problem is they're keeping you signed in for too long. If my phone doesn't check in for 24 hours, shouldn't it un-register me at least until I next check in?

It sounds like they're intentionally doing this, to create a problem for people migrating away from their service.

Apple: Broken by design, broken at inception.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#132

Post by mwill »

I encountered this problem recently on a smaller scale. I disable iMessage for various reasons, but recently had to factory reset my iPhone, which led to iMessage being enabled. I completely forgot about it and after I remembered to disable it, I suddenly could no longer receive text messages from my friends with iPhones.

I gave Apple a call and initially the only response I could get from them was "Just turn on iMessage" and general confusion about why I had it turned off in the first place.

Eventually someone I talked to said they could fix it, and shortly after I started receiving messages again.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#133

Post by WiseWeasel »

joshstrange wrote: post #75
WiseWeasel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From 100 days ago, 398 points: iOS holding my phone number hostage = the worst bug I’ve ever experienced (blog.benjaminste.in) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7166955

Apparently I need to re-evaluate my usage of the term "semi-recently", thank you very much for the link! I bow to your superior searching skills. I used the HN search site [0] if you don't mind me asking what did you use to find or did you just have it bookmarked? [0] http://hn.algolia.com

I posted in that thread, so I was able to find it in my comment history without too much digging.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#134

Post by prutschman »

deong wrote: post #121
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 doin…

The part that concerns me with Hangouts is that it wants to know my mobile number for some reason. They say it's for discovery purposes. For now at least.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#135

Post by dublinben »

prutschman wrote: post #134
deong wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 doin…

The part that concerns me with Hangouts is that it wants to know my mobile number for some reason. They say it's for discovery purposes. For now at least.

If you're using Google apps on your phone, they already know your mobile number. I'm not sure what you're concerned about.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#137

Post by Zhenya »

superuser2 wrote: post #60
kennywinker wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's encouraging that they actually have the capability to fix the issue, but you really shouldn't have to call tech support to regain control of your phone number. When you sign up for iMessages they don't say "We take over your phone number and route all texts from iphones to it and you'll have to call tech support to make us stop!"

How do you propose they fix it? Integrating with the infrastructure of every carrier to detect when a not-iPhone is activated on a line previously occupied by an iPhone is probably expensive and invasive to carriers. Also you don't have to call tech support. You can deregister iMessage from Settings (by turning it off) before you activate a new phone.

Good implementations would not have these kind of issues. This is a technical afterthought to them since you cant be part of their Eco system without their hardware, apparently you can go screw yourself.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#138

Post by w-ll »

johsoe wrote: post #23
uptown wrote: post #3

This site has a solution: 1. Reset your Apple ID password and do not log back in on your device(s) 2. Send a text to 48369 with the word STOP It won’t happen immediately but over a 12-hour period, you should start receiving texts on your Android device that are sent from iPhone users. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-keep-receiving-sm...

"Performing these tasks won't deregister iMessage" from: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5185

What is the point of that section then?

Re: iMessage purgatory

#139

Post by jbl »

pmorici wrote: post #48

The easiest way to avoid this problem is to make sure you turn off iMessage on your iPhone before you switch devices then you don't have this problem in the first place. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3392014?start=15&tstart...

When I switched from an iPhone to an Android handset, I found that I not only had to switch off iMessage, I had to switch it off while my SIM card was still in the iPhone. Switching iMessage off after the fact didn't seem to work.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#140

Post by bjeanes »

jc4p wrote: post #30

I 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…

I previously just switched my SIM back into someone's iPhone and used toggled iMessage on and back off again before switching the SIM back again.
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