iMessage bug?

[Pagemakers]

If you start a conversation with somebody using iMessage and the massages are being sent as blue imessages and that person moves to an an area where they don't have a data connection any further messages sent do not arrive until the user is once again on a 3G or wifi data connection etc. They do not auto send as text messages.

I work abroad several times a month and always have data roaming off. I talk to several of my contacts by blue iMessage and when I'm aboard, I do not get any of the messages they send me until I am on a data connection. They do not come though as text messages.

A second question, after sending a message to somebody using blue iMessage, how can you then force it to send as a text message? I ask this because a colleague of mine has just gone to India and I know he is not on a data connection. Each message I send him stills sends as a blue iMessage and not green text message. I have spoken to him and not of my messages arrive. When he moves to a data connection they all start to arrive.

Since we have many imessage conversations going at once, how are we to know if the user has moved out of data range and are not getting my messages?

I though the whole point of iMessage warns if a data connection was not available it would send as text?

 

[verwon]

First, they have to have their device set to send SMS, if the iMessage fails.

As to forcing it to send as SMS press and hold on it, after you hit send and it appears in your window, the options will pop up.

 

[Pagemakers]

I think YOU have to have send as SMS set to on and not them.

I do have this setting on and when I’m abroad they do not arrive as SMS from previous blue conversations. Nor if I send to an existing blue conversation to somebody else who no longer has iMessage reception.

It seems to work for new conversations only.

 

[psejcf]

I've seen this automatic switch to SMS working fine. iMessage does take a few minutes to decide if the message is undeliverable through Apple's servers and then send it as a normal SMS. It's not immediate, but it doesn't take more than a few minutes either to switch.

As mentioned above, the sender must have the "Send as SMS" fallback option set to ON in the iMessage settings.

 

[Pagemakers]

I honestly don’t see it working like that. It’s my experience and the experience of other people in my airline.

We regularly have conversations with UK people who are then abroad the next day and the messages do not arrive until that user is on a data connections. The change from blue to green messages does not change until a message is received from the recipient.

The SMS feature is turned on.

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Here is a way to prove it does not work….

I’m here with a mate. We are sending blue messages between us with no problem.

On the recipient phone, turn off wifi and General/Network/Cellular Data to simulate a no-data connection. SMS messages will still work.

Now on the sender phone, send another blue message. The message sends as an iMessage and is not delivered. It is not sent as a green SMS. You can send as many messages as you like.

Now turn cellular data or wifi back on and the messages arrive.

 

[SnifferUK]

I'm having exactly the same problem.

My wife and i bothe have iPhones running IOS5 . I'm in the UK and my wife has flew out of the UK a couple of days ago.

Since then she is not able to send or receive any iMessages to/from me, although she can send and receive SMS messages to a non-IOS device. All her settings appear to be correct and she is configured to drop down to SMS if there is no data (which there isn't as she has data roaming switched off).

So, sounds like a bug - not ideal for people travelling abroad.

 

[Zxxv]

Same happening here.

 

[beady]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I've been having the same problem. I restarted the conversation using the persons mobile number rather than email and that seemed to help. Apple need to do something about this.

 

[TechDudeGeorge]

I have the same problem here, it's a massive flaw.

 

[ho11ywou1d]

Same Here

I seem to have the same problem, only what is worse is I never get the texts I've missed. So people on the other end think I am ignoring them. I have only found this out recently as close friends are okay with asking me why I didn't respond to them, to which I say I never got a text.

I did some testing of my own and am pretty sure my theory is correct. I only
miss texts from people with an iPhone and iMessage. I can tell I am not going to get a persons texts if the send button on my end is green. If it is blue I will get their texts. I started noticin that to be the trend. I had a friend who's send button was green on my end, so I tweeted her to text me and of course, I didn't get her text. My send button then randomly turned blue. And the entire time I was connected to wifi so there's no way I didn't have service.

This is absolutely ridiculous and apple needs to do something about it. Lord only knows all the other text messages I've been missing and for how long.

 

[TechDudeGeorge]

^ Yup same here. Whenever I'm offline (send is green) and my friend messages me, it only sends as a iMessage which I only get when I get online again. I disabled iMessage because of this.

 

[thewitt]

Yes, it's a known problem. Been reported to Apple in bug track, but you should leave them feedback anyway on their website.

 

[rocknblogger]

I hope they fix it soon.

 

[viperGTS]

So basically you're saying "Send as SMS" doesn't work?

 

[Pagemakers]

Pretty much, yes...

 

[emon878]

I tested this out with a friend last night and the message seems to send as a text exactly 5 minutes after iMessage becomes unavailable.

 

[Pagemakers]

You must be the only person it works for. Maybe Apple have updated their back office systems?

Try this...

I’m here with a mate. We are sending blue messages between us with no problem.

On the recipient phone, turn off wifi and General/Network/Cellular Data to simulate a no-data connection. SMS messages will still work.

Now on the sender phone, send another blue message. The message sends as an iMessage and is not delivered. It is not sent as a green SMS. You can send as many messages as you like.

Now turn cellular data or wifi back on and the messages arrive.

 

[rocknblogger]

When sending a message to a non iOS device, does iMessage know immediately that it's a non iOS recipient?

 

[Pagemakers]

When sending a message to a non iOS device, does iMessage know immediately that it's a non iOS recipient?

Yes, but that’s not the problem here.

The problem is when you START an iMessage convo with somebody and your recipient becomes unavailable because they go abroad for a few days on holiday for example and they have data roaming off and do not connect to a wifi network.

The iMessage should convert to SMS (if turned on in settings) but they don’t. Your message just sit in limbo until they re-connect to a data network.

 

[emon878]

You must be the only person it works for. Maybe Apple have updated their back office systems?

Try this...

I’m here with a mate. We are sending blue messages between us with no problem.

On the recipient phone, turn off wifi and General/Network/Cellular Data to simulate a no-data connection. SMS messages will still work.

Now on the sender phone, send another blue message. The message sends as an iMessage and is not delivered. It is not sent as a green SMS. You can send as many messages as you like.

Now turn cellular data or wifi back on and the messages arrive.

I don't know if I'm the only one it worked for but this is a new phone. Got it for Christmas. Anyway this is the process I did. I started an iMessage convo with a friend. Then either I turned wifi and data off or I turned iMessage off. The I told my friend to send me a message. Every time his app still showed blue not green. However in either case after exactly 5 mins I got his message as a text message. And his convo finally turned green.

 

[aziatiklover]

Yes, but that’s not the problem here.

The problem is when you START an iMessage convo with somebody and your recipient becomes unavailable because they go abroad for a few days on holiday for example and they have data roaming off and do not connect to a wifi network.

The iMessage should convert to SMS (if turned on in settings) but they don’t. Your message just sit in limbo until they re-connect to a data network.

I don't know why it doesn't work for you guys cuz it works for me fine. However, my friend and I do get international sms cuz I'm using a foreign sim card with a foreign number when iMessage is not available of course. In the other hand the bug I'm having is I cannot choose email imessage but only cell numbers!

 

[Pagemakers]

Emon878: for this to display the bug you must not turn iMessage off.

You are supposed to be simulating that you are having a text conversation with a mate and they move out of data coverage. 99% of people will not be turning iMessage on and off.

 

[Zxxv]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

iMessage is broke. When having an iMessage conversation and the iMessage is not delivered (believe me I've waited days. It doesn't deliver/switch) I have to start a new SMS message. Then I have two chats on the go and when the person goes back on iMessage I go back to that. If I was a competitor I would be making fun of this in my adverts.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

In order for iMessage to work as intended BOTH parties must be able to receive at an email address AND a cell number...if your iMessage is set up to only be received at an email address of course sending "as SMS" will not work...check your settings and have the person who's not getting iMessage outside of a data connection to check their settings also

 

[vincebio]

In order for iMessage to work as intended BOTH parties must be able to receive at an email address AND a cell number...if your iMessage is set up to only be received at an email address of course sending "as SMS" will not work...check your settings and have the person who's not getting iMessage outside of a data connection to check their settings also

i think a good few of us have already done that and are setup correctly...me included.

there is clearly a problem with the system...and for apple to not get this right first time round is inexcusable. By all means beta test us with new gadgets and software...but for god sakes when it comes to the essentials i.e Text messaging test it properly ...if your going to get involved with it, get it right, simple as that.

we can only hope there will be a release soon of iOS to address this..

otherwise its back to Whatsapp...