iMessage purgatory • Hacker News Board

Re: iMessage purgatory

#141

Post by mikestew » Wed, May 14, 2014, 3:57 AM UTC

w-ll wrote: post #138

johsoe wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What is the point of that section then?

Because the steps in that section keep getting passed around as possible fixes. Some of them are mentioned in this very thread. Sadly, it's been my experience that the fix Apple does suggest doesn't work reliably (works for some, not for others), either.

EDIT: holy crap, as toddn points out above, apparently that section is also to contradict the bad information that is passed around in Apple's own KB articles: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5538

Re: iMessage purgatory

#142

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Wed, May 14, 2014, 4:17 AM UTC

agos wrote: post #90

dragonwriter wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you propose they fix it? Making it possible to deregister by logging into your Apple Account over the web would deal with 100% of the problem, which is people not being aware of the issue before switching off of iOS.

AFAIK this is already possibile Edit: someone on this thread has confirmed

It's not obvious though. They give you a unified login - Apple ID - but all the services are all over the place. Other than iCloud, I can't tell you what URL to go to, to manage your ID, unregister devices etc. At least give us a portal with links to all the services.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#143

Post by adinb » Wed, May 14, 2014, 4:48 AM UTC

miketuritzin wrote: post #99

conradev wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have another iOS device (iPad, perhaps) that uses the same iCloud account as your iPhone did?

No, not another iOS device.

If you have a recent Mac on 10.9 it tries to iMessage you there as well.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#144

Post by X-Istence » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:07 AM UTC

Had a friend recently go through this. She called up Apple, had her number deregistered and about a day or two later everything started flowing correctly again...

Re: iMessage purgatory

#145

Post by kalleboo » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:09 AM UTC

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

Google "site:news.ycombinator.com imessage phone number"

Google beats any site search I've used.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#146

Post by nitrogen » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:19 AM UTC

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.

How do you propose they fix it?

They could release an iMessage client for Android and PC.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#147

Post by sturmeh » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:23 AM UTC

Is it conceivable that Apple are deliberately ignoring this issue as it does exactly what they would want?

It punishes people who move away from their platform with social isolation.

It's easy for them to overlook this issue and not put any effort into fixing it, because the investment would result in a better experience for everyone who switching away from Apple.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#148

Post by dirkgently » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:34 AM UTC

jc4p wrote: post #56

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!"

Oh of course, it's insanely annoying. It's not even something that crossed my mind since before transitioning to my iPhone I used to carry multiple phones on me and just switch SIMs around (I'm a mobile dev, not a drug dealer, I promise) I'm just saying that it's not hopeless, Apple hasn't done anything about it in years and from the blog it seems like the writer thinks they'll just never get text messages from iPhon…

If it's not deliberate, then it's just incompetency.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#149

Post by sturmeh » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:38 AM UTC

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.

That won't happen.

Worst case is that you will get e-mails instead of SMS's.

Also the SMS + Hangouts combination is on YOUR end, if other people start using the app and sending you messages on Hangouts it's because they wanted to.

Worst case scenario here is that you add a friend via Hangouts and you assume it's going to their phone but they only ever reply to you when they're checking their email.

Re: iMessage purgatory

#150

Post by dirkgently » Wed, May 14, 2014, 5:38 AM UTC

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.

> How do you propose they fix it?

It's their technology. Why should I provide the fix of a system that's not built by me, and have no control over it?

It's like saying, user x can't use a website, so he/sh should find out that there is a javascript error due to browser compatibility, and then the USER has to propose a solution with the fix in the javascript to the website owner.