IMessage problems

Guide to fixing issue with iOS 7 Messages

Every time Apple launches a major iOS revision there are some gremlins in the works. iOS 7 is no exception and we’ve heard many reported issues with the operating system, in particular a number of people are discovering that their iMessages are not being sent.

Sometimes it’s a problem with the software, occasionally it’s a problem at Apple’s back-end server, and with millions of updates taking place at the same time it’s sometimes just a congregation of people suffering similar installation problems.

If you’re having trouble with Messages for iOS then there are a number of different things you can try. Here we outline some quick fixes for common Messages problems:

My friend isn’t receiving my texts?

Has your friend recently moved over from iPhone to an alternative smartphone? There’s an issue with former iOS users receiving SMS messages on their new smartphones.

If your friend is experiencing problems they need to disable iMessage. Ideally they would have disabled iMessage from their old phone before moving to the new device. In fact, apparently it can take up to 45 days for a number to be removed from iMessage, so the best advice is to turn off iMessage weeks before you start using a new phone.

To switch off iMessage go to Settings > Messages. Switch off iMessage using the slider. After turning of iMessage the text messages you receive on an iPhone will be green rather than blue.

If your friend has a Mac they should also go into System Preferences > iCloud, log in and check all the options to ensure that their phone number is not listed there. It’s worth checking iCloud.com settings too.

If it’s too late for that, your friend needs to call Apple on 0844 209 0611 to ask them to de-register then from the Apple servers. However, even this is problematic. It appears a “serverside iMessage bug” was stopping Apple from being able to remove ex-customers from iMessage. Apple claimed that it has now fixed that issue and also promised that an additional bug fix would come in a future software update, in a statement to Re/code.

Other advice is for you, and other friends, to delete and re-add your friend’s number. This is because your iPhone is also thinks that it should route texts to your friend through the iMessage server. To make absolutely sure your friend gets your text messages, every time you send a message tap the i that shows up beside an unsent text message and choose “send as text”.

Another solution, shared by TechRepublic, is to reset your Apple ID Password and then send a text to 48369 with the word STOP.

Why it happened: iMessages are sent from Apple’s servers rather than via a mobile network. When you set up iMessage you tell Apple’s servers that text messages should be diverted through this system to your phone number so that you can save you money as you won’t be paying your network for the text messages. However, if you don’t remove your phone number from the association with iMessage, text messages destined to be delivered to you might get caught in the iMessage server, unable to be delivered to the new phone.

My friend has an iPhone and they aren’t receiving my messages

If you keep getting Not Delivered reports in iOS 7 when you try to send a message this could be because the other person hasn’t set up iMessage, but iOS isn’t automatically switching to SMS.

To fix this, Tap Settings > Messages and Send as SMS to turn it on. This should ensure that if iMessage isn’t working at the other person’s end then they should still get the message.

Test this by tapping Settings > Messages and turning off iMessage and sending a message to the person. This should force it to go by SMS (regular text message).

My iMessages are not sending

Apple is working on a fix for a bug that means some iMessages are not being sent.

In iOS 7 it appears that some iMessage are not being sent, according to Apple this is only affecting a small percentage of users, but since it is affecting us we imagine that we are either very unlucky, or more people are affected than Apple realises.

Apple told us: “We are aware of an issue that affects a fraction of a percent of our iMessage users, and we will have a fix available in an upcoming software update.

“In the meantime, we encourage any users having problems to reference our troubleshooting documents or contact AppleCare to help resolve their issue. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes impacted users.”

When confronted by the issue we have been switching to send by Text message. To do so tap and hold the exclamation mark (!) indicating that

the message was not delivered, and select Send as Text Message from the options.

You will usually be alerted to the fact that the message hasn’t been sent within 5 minutes, but it’s easy to miss this alert, and there is no indication our Messages view now that some iMessages haven’t been sent, the only way to tell is to open up messages you have sent to your friends.

I am getting the wrong names in Messages

If you are seeing short names, or nicknames instead of full names this is due to a new setting in iOS 7. Follow these steps to get things back to normal: Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Short Name and tap Prefer Nicknames to switch it off.

Group messaging no longer works

If you’re having trouble sending messages to groups of people you can try performing these steps:

Start a new group message rather than continuing an old one. See if this fixes the problem.

If that doesn’t work you may need to reset the network: Tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. See if this fixes the problem.

Alternatively you could try backing up and restoring your iMessages.

To back up the Phone go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup and Back Up Now. (If you don’t already back up to iCloud you will

need to tap iCloud Backup to turn it on first). Erase the iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Erase All Content and Settings. Restore your backup.

iMessage is greyed out

Some users have reported a problem with iMessage being greyed out. One tip is to reset Messages. Follow these steps:

Go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Tap each email address to remove it. Go back one screen and tap iMessage to turn it off. Go back again and tap FaceTime. Deselect all FaceTime emails and tap FaceTime to turn it off. Wait five minutes.

Turn iMessage and FaceTime back on with no email address selected. It should just have your mobile number ticked. Use this from now on.

iMessage is displaying the email address instead of my number

This is another change in iOS 7 that isn’t technically a bug, but a different default setting. It’s easy to fix:

Tap Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > Apple ID (your email address) > Sign Out. iMessage should now display your phone number instead of your email address. Note that people will only be able to contact you on iMessage using your phone number, not your email address.

Old messages disappeared when I upgraded to iOS 7

Unfortunately text messages aren’t transferable in the same way as iMessages as these are not tied to your Apple ID in the same way. However, they still shouldn’t have disappeared.

The problem is that when you sync your iPhone with iTunes or iCloud it syncs your music, photos and apps, however your text messages are not synced in the same way they are saved as part of your iPhone’s back up, so there is no obvious way to recover them.

You may, if you are very lucky, be able to get them back if you restore from a previous back up. In iTunes find your iPhone under devices in the list in the sidebar (it there is no sidebar, go to View > Show Sidebar. Select your iPhone and then view the Summary Page. Here’s where you may be able to locate an older backup from which to restore your iPhone, depending on how good you are at making backups in the first place. Click Restore Backup and cross your fingers. If you didn’t backup your device, you can’t restore your old messages back to your iPhone, although you could try and use a program such as iTunes Backup Extractor