iMessage refuses to work across devices - please help!

[fosman]

Hi,

I know lots of people have posted iMessage bugs, but I've yet to see a solution that works for me, and it's driving me bonkers. If someone can help, I'd really appreciate it.

I have both an iPhone 4, and an iPad 1. Both have iMessage turned on. My iPhone has 'Receive At' my phone number and my email address. My caller ID is set as my email address. My iPad has 'Receive At' set as my email address.

My iPad an iPhone simply do not sync across - the main problem seeming to be with my iPad. If SEND an iMessage from my iPad to, say, my girlfriend, a new conversation thread will appear in her phone as if I am a new person (and yes, she does have my email in her contacts!). If texts me via iMessage, it will only appear on my phone, in the original message thread.

I have never received an iMessage to my iPad apart from replies to ones I have sent.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I'm seriously considering wiping both my phone and iPad, as this is one of a number of bugs I've had since iCloud launch

Thank you!

Faraz

 

[TLewis]

On both devices, go to Settings->Messages->Receive At, and double-check that the "Apple ID" and "Caller ID" are identical for both devices, and do not have any typos. Make sure that the same Caller ID email address is selected on both devices (a "check" symbol next to the address).

Edit: your GF also has iMessage enabled, right (I'm guessing so, since she can receive messages from your iPad)? When you send her messages from your iPhone, your messages should appear in blue. If it's green, it's not going through iMessage and is being sent as SMS, which would explain what you're seeing.

 

[fosman]

yes, identical everywhere - triple checked.

My GF was just an example, but yes, she is on iMessage with blue messages (as in, the colour blue!).

Also true for members of my family, friends et al. But I don't get any sort of messages on my iPad. Unless they are replies to message I've sent from my iPad.

EG:

Message to Tim Cook from fosman's iPhone via iMessage: Hi Tim, hope you're settling in well.

Message from Tim Cook via iMessage: Great thanks!
Received on iPhone NOT iPad

Message to Tim Cook from fosman's iPad via iMessage: Hey Tim, coffee?

(Message appears on Tim's phone as 'fosman@emailaddress.com' in new thread)

Message from Tim Cook via iMessage: Yeah. Have you lost your phone?
Received on iPhone AND iPad

AGGGGGG!!!!!

 

[Alaerian]

You're specifically telling people to iMessage your email address and NOT your phone number?

You won't received iMessages on your iPad unless they are specifically addressed to your email.

 

[fosman]

You're specifically telling people to iMessage your email address and NOT your phone number?

You won't received iMessages on your iPad unless they are specifically addressed to your email.

I'm not telling people to specifically do anything - I thought that was the point of iMessage. My caller ID is set to my email address - so any reply back via iMessage should go to my email address surely?

The way I expect iMessage to work is that the thread remains consistent - if iMessage is available (ie, I have a data connection) then it will deliver to all devices. If not, it will only deliver via SMS to my phone.



f

 

[Alaerian]

The way I expect iMessage to work is that the thread remains consistent - if iMessage is available (ie, I have a data connection) then it will deliver to all devices. If not, it will only deliver via SMS to my phone.

Not exactly. iMessage will not deliver to a non-iPhone unless it's sent to the email address.

 

[verwon]

Yeah, if you want it all in one thread and synced to your iPad, they have to send to your email addy.

 

[TLewis]

You're specifically telling people to iMessage your email address and NOT your phone number?

You won't received iMessages on your iPad unless they are specifically addressed to your email.

This. It's not obvious but, for some strange inexplicable reason, iMessages sent to a number go only to the iPhone. People have to send messages to your email address for the message to go everywhere.

 

[fosman]

Yeah, if you want it all in one thread and synced to your iPad, they have to send to your email addy.

So, all the people I texted BEFORE iOS5 i need to delete all the threads and text them again? And then they have two threads of messaging from me? Should a text go through as an SMS, it'll default back to the problem I had before and.. well you get the idea!

I can't see how this is considered a 'seamless' solution...

 

[TLewis]

So, all the people I texted BEFORE iOS5 i need to delete all the threads and text them again? And then they have two threads of messaging from me? Should a text go through as an SMS, it'll default back to the problem I had before and.. well you get the idea!

I can't see how this is considered a 'seamless' solution...

Yes, you basically have two threads: a "before" and "after". Once you switch, everything should go into one thread. *IF* everything is set up properly, the messages should go into one "after" thread.

However, there is a big caveat to this, because Apple borked the defaults. Be default, everything is NOT set up properly. All this assumes that any iMessage senders (not you) have set their Caller ID to an email address. This is the default for iPad/iPod touch users, but is not the default for iPhone users. For the iPhone, it's the phone number. As a result, iPhone messages will go into a phone-number-based thread, and any messages from the same person, using their iPad/iPod, will go into a separate, email-address-based, thread. In order for all this to work correctly, iPhone users need to manually change their Caller ID to the same email address used by their iPad/iPod.

It's "seamless" only after some pain.

Edit: it's also a bit schizo: with iMessage, if you send a text to someone's number, and they have iMessage (not sure of this?), iMessage will properly thread the text into an existing iMessage thread at your end (one sent using email addresses). However, only the recipient's iPhone will get the message, but the message will be properly threaded into the email-address-based thread on their iPhone; their other devices, like an iPad, won't get the message at all.