My phone is sending 2 SMS per day, how do I find out which app?

[dynalmadman]

Hi guys,

Kind of a weird question. I have a phone plan that does not include any SMS, which is fine, because all my messaging is done via iMessage or Line.

My bill is showing that I am sending 2 SMS per day, one at about 10:50am and another about 10 minutes later. Every day. Since my plan doesn't include SMS, this adds a nagging little charge to my bill each month.

I searched and did all the checking I could, but did not find the culprit. Any idea how I can track it down? Maybe some app I told could do some sort of message to a server or something a long time ago? I used to have a plan that included SMS, so never noticed it before, if it has been happening for a while.

I am going to leave the phone in Airplane Mode tomorrow morning and see if anything alerts me to not being able to send something, but I don't have high confidence in that.

Thank you for reading, and for any advice you may hove.

Michael

 

[Merkie]

It is not possible for apps to send an SMS.

 

[H3boy]

You could go into settings > messages then disable "Send as SMS"

 

[bandofbrothers]

The only time I've heard of a silent sms is when iMessage is being set up.

 

[Ryanclbryant]

Worth asking; which iOS are you running? Jailbroken or not? H3Boy's suggestion is likely to fix this, though.

 

[wepiii]

Have anything set up with IFTTT? Or something similar?

 

[CTHarrryH]

Have you tried asking your vendor for help - explain and you don't know where and who. Maybe they will tell you where they are going

 

[dynalmadman]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I did disable Send as SMS. Hopefully that will fix it. I still have my phone in airplane mode this morning for another couple hours to see if I get any notifications regarding not being able to send something.

I am in Thailand, and the tech support is a little bit different from what I had in the US.

I am running IOS 9.0.2 and I am not jailbroken.

More in a few hours after I am part the normal time of transmission.

Thanks
Michael

 

[Abazigal]

Try turning off FaceTime, could be that your phone is trying to activate FaceTime?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4453752

 

[Tritto]

Google the number your phone is sending texts to. My guess is iMessage or FaceTime activation as I had a similar question a few years ago.

 

[C DM]

Try to check that which app has the permission to send messages and till then change your message center number so that iPhone wont be able to send any SMS.

What app would have permission to send messages? And where would you even check that?

 

[uhaas]

Sounds like you have a malware app installed. No app should be sending SMS without your permission or action.

Unless you're receiving a SMS at that time.

 

[C DM]

Sounds like you have a malware app installed. No app should be sending SMS without your permission or action.

Unless you're receiving a SMS at that time.

There shouldn't be even a malware app capable of doing that either.

 

[dynalmadman]

The weird thing is that the send to number is mine. And no received SMS in the iMessage app,

I had the phone in Airplane mode at the time it has been sending, and when I turned everything back on......the cell phone company listed the same 2 SMSs, sent at almost exactly the same time as the days before.......In airplane mode.

Something smells here....Tomorrow morning I am going to power off the phone and see if the cell company still records the messages.

Will do some more checking.
Michael

 

[Shirasaki]

What app would have permission to send messages? And where would you even check that?

But changing message Center number could be a good idea. I used this trick to pay those in-game SMS items when using a Symbian S60 Nokia E72.

 

[bittyme]

The weird thing is that the send to number is mine. And no received SMS in the iMessage app,

I had the phone in Airplane mode at the time it has been sending, and when I turned everything back on......the cell phone company listed the same 2 SMSs, sent at almost exactly the same time as the days before.......In airplane mode.

Something smells here....Tomorrow morning I am going to power off the phone and see if the cell company still records the messages.

Will do some more checking.
Michael

The other guy above is probably right about iMessage, especially if you're roaming. This happened to me before. I was in Japan for vacation and I had my phone on airplane mode. Then I decided to switch it off after about a day in case I wanted to use it for calling and only connected to wifi for data. No SMS were sent or received during my entire trip.

When I got back I incurred a couple charges for SMS like you mentioned even though I didn't sent or receive any (And it was quite expensive mind you..). I called up my phone carrier, customer service insisted I was the one sending blah blah blah, so I request to talk to someone in the technical department. He explained to me that when iMessage/Facetime is being activated with the server after it has been turned off, you will incur SMS charges and I have to avoid turning it on and off or not use it entirely to avoid these roaming charges in the future.

I'm not quite sure how it works exactly or how true it is, but it was a decent enough explanation for me to accept the charges.

 

[rigormortis]

the only idea i have is to remove the sim card, and put it in a dumb phone, like a nokia 5100 / 6100 /8800 series and see if there are any text messages stored on the sim card

before iPhones came out in 2007, it was common for the sim card to hold text messages

 

[electronicsguy]

the only idea i have is to remove the sim card, and put it in a dumb phone, like a nokia 5100 / 6100 /8800 series and see if there are any text messages stored on the sim card

before iPhones came out in 2007, it was common for the sim card to hold text messages

how is this in any way relevant? what's the use? say there are no messages on the sim. the phone could still be sending a sms for imessage/iphone activation. and just because there may be some messages on the sim, doesn't mean the phone is sending/not sending activation smses.

 

[dynalmadman]

One really unusual part of this anomaly is that there are 2 messages. Every day. One at 10:51am and the second at 10:59am. +/- 20 seconds or so. I am going to power of the phone from 10:30 to 11:30 this morning and see what is what.

Michael

 

[wepiii]

if you go to settings, messages, does it say "waiting for iMessage activation" or something like that?

 

[rigormortis]

how is this in any way relevant? what's the use? say there are no messages on the sim. the phone could still be sending a sms for imessage/iphone activation. and just because there may be some messages on the sim, doesn't mean the phone is sending/not sending activation smses.

i thought it would at least have a slight chance no matter how small of actually showing you the content of the actual message. i remember putting a sprint sim I'm my no-sprint iPhone 6
and geting a huge text back that was several pages long

if the message was on the sim card, it would be in sent or inbox , that would be a clue too

when someone suggests that it might be worth checking the sim card for sms messages stored on it .. with a dumb phone.. please don't quote them and ask how that would help. just try it. and then tell us it didn't work, thank you.

 

[electronicsguy]

i thought it would at least have a slight chance no matter how small of actually showing you the content of the actual message. i remember putting a sprint sim I'm my no-sprint iPhone 6
and geting a huge text back that was several pages long

if the message was on the sim card, it would be in sent or inbox , that would be a clue too

when someone suggests that it might be worth checking the sim card for sms messages stored on it .. with a dumb phone.. please don't quote them and ask how that would help. just try it. and then tell us it didn't work, thank you.

but its not worth it, that's the point. its wasting their time because the idea is pointless.

 

[dynalmadman]

Alright boys and girls. More weirdness. I had the phone completely powered off from 9:30am to 11:30am. About 1 pm I checked the cell providers app and what do you know? 2 SMS tests listed being sent at the same 2 times, 10:51am and 11:00am. When the phone was off! Nice.

Went to the True store, spoke to the techie there and he was stumped. Took the info and said he would pass it on to the IT dept and they would call later.

Meanwhile, I have reset the phone, erasing all settings and set it up as a new phone. I downloaded only the True app, so I could check the account tomorrow. Will let you know of the results then.

Weird.
Michael

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Well, if your phone is supposedly sending messages while being turned off, then it for sure isn't doing it. The problem must be your cell providers fault.

 

[uhaas]

Alright boys and girls. More weirdness. I had the phone completely powered off from 9:30am to 11:30am. About 1 pm I checked the cell providers app and what do you know? 2 SMS tests listed being sent at the same 2 times, 10:51am and 11:00am. When the phone was off! Nice.

Went to the True store, spoke to the techie there and he was stumped. Took the info and said he would pass it on to the IT dept and they would call later.

Meanwhile, I have reset the phone, erasing all settings and set it up as a new phone. I downloaded only the True app, so I could check the account tomorrow. Will let you know of the results then.

Weird.
Michael

I was going to suggest that SIM cards can have malware and the stored messages idea was good, but after this ...

I believe their could be another SIM out there with you I'd on it. The SIM could have been cloned, or there's a bug at the carrier. I'd opt for a new SIM and see if the problem persists.