not detecting iMessage

[hehe299792458]

I just upgraded my friend's iPhone 4 to iOS 5.0.1. I put the phone in restore mode and did a fresh upgrade that way.

I enabled iMessage for him. He doesn't have a 3G connection, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with using Edge.

Now, I can send him iMessages from my iPad. I enter either his Apple ID or phone number, and I can send the message. He can also receive it.

However, on my iPhone 4 (also iOS 5.0.1) I have previous SMS message with him on his phone number. On my iPhone, I can't get it to send iMessages to him. It still defaults to SMS and won't recognize both the phone number and Apple ID as being registered with iMessage.

I tried creating a new thread, but that didn't help. What can I do to force my iPhone to send iMessages to my friend's iPhone?

 

[Scott90]

Have him send an iMessage to you, that worked for me and one of my friends for whom my phone wouldn't detect an iMessage-capable phone.

 

[Jamkas]

Hard Reset usually does the trick on little problems like this.

Like said above have your friend message you.

 

[Gav2k]

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)

You could also force it by putting his phone in airplane mode the putting wifi on. But check his iMessage settings to make sure it says receive at two addresses one being his number the other his apple id