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Not receiving text messages? - AT&T, iOS5
- Thread starter Skibum4300
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Big problem
My wife's iphone is having this same issue. I told her to delete a lot of text messages and that helped after one restart. But then she got the over limit message again. Then when she tries to delete more messages the message app crashes. So she cant receive any texts because her messages app is full but cant delete them because the messages app crashes when she tries to. Awesome, thanks Apple!
My wife's iphone is having this same issue. I told her to delete a lot of text messages and that helped after one restart. But then she got the over limit message again. Then when she tries to delete more messages the message app crashes. So she cant receive any texts because her messages app is full but cant delete them because the messages app crashes when she tries to. Awesome, thanks Apple!
Ugh
Spent an hour on the phone with AT&T. They told me the only "foolproof" solution is to backup your phone and then restore it from backup after having deleted every single message off my phone. I laughed. I've had an iPhone for 3.5 years and I text like a fiend. It would take me hours to delete my texts. But going off what you all have said, this wouldn't even solve the problem! I'm infuriated. How could this problem not be addressed after having been discovered in the 3 days since the release? Really inexcusable and I refuse to restore from new. A- It'll take me hours upon hours to reset things the way I want them and B- I don't want to take the chance that I'll lose things. Absolutely infuriating.
Spent an hour on the phone with AT&T. They told me the only "foolproof" solution is to backup your phone and then restore it from backup after having deleted every single message off my phone. I laughed. I've had an iPhone for 3.5 years and I text like a fiend. It would take me hours to delete my texts. But going off what you all have said, this wouldn't even solve the problem! I'm infuriated. How could this problem not be addressed after having been discovered in the 3 days since the release? Really inexcusable and I refuse to restore from new. A- It'll take me hours upon hours to reset things the way I want them and B- I don't want to take the chance that I'll lose things. Absolutely infuriating.
Living in Norway, i basically have no way getting in touch with Apple. At least someone who can give me some kind of answer or solution. Does anyone know how long it takes before something like this is going to get addressed? Do we have to wait for 5.0.1 or something? And how long does it usually take before the first update is ready?
Thanks.
Thanks.
I must admit, I find it interesting that so many of you save your texts. I had never thought of that, although I do not text that much to begin with. But, about every couple of weeks I go in and get rid of them all, just to clean things up.
I am beginning to think that the best way to upgrade is to restore the phone back to factory, do the upgrade, then restore from backup.
I am beginning to think that the best way to upgrade is to restore the phone back to factory, do the upgrade, then restore from backup.
I save all my texts. I go back constantly and read them. It's like a journal.
The AT&T rep I talked to said "Senior Technicians" were being tasked with solving this as we spoke, that they were planning to work around the clock over the weekend to solve the problem, so hopefully she was serious and we'll have this settled soon enough.
I refuse, absolutely refuse, to restore from brand new. If it means I might not get texts for a few days or even a week, so be it. It's making me want to punch a wall, but at least I have another phone. Besides, if people REALLY need me, they can pick up the ****ing phone for a change.
The AT&T rep I talked to said "Senior Technicians" were being tasked with solving this as we spoke, that they were planning to work around the clock over the weekend to solve the problem, so hopefully she was serious and we'll have this settled soon enough.
I refuse, absolutely refuse, to restore from brand new. If it means I might not get texts for a few days or even a week, so be it. It's making me want to punch a wall, but at least I have another phone. Besides, if people REALLY need me, they can pick up the ****ing phone for a change.
Tried this, but it didn't work for me. Eventually I just deleted all of my texts (2 1/2 years worth
) and now it seems to be working.New Member just for this issue as I never had the need to find this group, but now that I have getting great ideas about the phone and ipad.
Upgraded the DD phone a 3GS to IOS 5 the first night went without a hitch, but the text messaging became evident. As many searched the web high and low did the following;
Called ATT said it wasnt there issue
Called Apple got a case number over 2 days did many things were told
- its a network issue the engineers will have a fix in a few hours (that was Thurs)
- Its a phone problem, its a ATT problem, we are unaware of it. All of which we know is BS
- Went yesterday to the Genius Bar and they restored the phone like it was new and Texts worked
- Got home Restored the phone and BOOM not working again
Suggested to DD
- Roll back to earlier IOS
- Sit tight and wait for fix
- Try to delete texts that you dont need as there are only so many OMG LOL ROFLOL SMH K HI texts that one needs
Well she did delete more texts and it now works for her.
If that is the fix cause they shrunk the size of the box, that is ********. That is so poor on their part it is not even funny.
I will await official fix or forum fix to see where this shakes out but as my DD would say OMG SMH
Thanks for all your posts
Upgraded the DD phone a 3GS to IOS 5 the first night went without a hitch, but the text messaging became evident. As many searched the web high and low did the following;
Called ATT said it wasnt there issue
Called Apple got a case number over 2 days did many things were told
- its a network issue the engineers will have a fix in a few hours (that was Thurs)
- Its a phone problem, its a ATT problem, we are unaware of it. All of which we know is BS
- Went yesterday to the Genius Bar and they restored the phone like it was new and Texts worked
- Got home Restored the phone and BOOM not working again
Suggested to DD
- Roll back to earlier IOS
- Sit tight and wait for fix
- Try to delete texts that you dont need as there are only so many OMG LOL ROFLOL SMH K HI texts that one needs
Well she did delete more texts and it now works for her.
If that is the fix cause they shrunk the size of the box, that is ********. That is so poor on their part it is not even funny.
I will await official fix or forum fix to see where this shakes out but as my DD would say OMG SMH
Thanks for all your posts
Hi, all. Longtime lurker, first-time poster.
Just off the phone with Apple support:
texts/SMS messages are limited to ~75,000 messages within iOS 5. Backing up is the only way to preserve them once this threshold is reached.
This is an inexcusable, terrible implementation, Apple. Change it back in a future update.
Best, ~bf.
Just off the phone with Apple support:
texts/SMS messages are limited to ~75,000 messages within iOS 5. Backing up is the only way to preserve them once this threshold is reached.
This is an inexcusable, terrible implementation, Apple. Change it back in a future update.
Best, ~bf.
Texting error fix
Hey all. Before you read this link from apple, I have to warn you that it will make you mad. The text error is an apple IOS 5 limitation. They have built a 15mb limitation. Yes 15mb! Here's the link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1498
Hey all. Before you read this link from apple, I have to warn you that it will make you mad. The text error is an apple IOS 5 limitation. They have built a 15mb limitation. Yes 15mb! Here's the link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1498
Last edited:
Texting Issues Resolved!
So I've been having the same complication all day. I downloaded the new iOS software last night and haven't had texting capabilities all day. After trying a bunch of things and still getting the same SMS box full alert, I decided to go through and delete text messages. To my surprise this actually worked. Even if there aren't that many different people that are in filed in your text log, the history of texting with one person can go way back and take up space. I went through and deleted the messages from the people I talk to the most and that provided a lot more space and I started to receive all the messages that hadn't come in. Hope this helps you all!
So I've been having the same complication all day. I downloaded the new iOS software last night and haven't had texting capabilities all day. After trying a bunch of things and still getting the same SMS box full alert, I decided to go through and delete text messages. To my surprise this actually worked. Even if there aren't that many different people that are in filed in your text log, the history of texting with one person can go way back and take up space. I went through and deleted the messages from the people I talk to the most and that provided a lot more space and I started to receive all the messages that hadn't come in. Hope this helps you all!
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)
Having a limit on the max number of archived messages is necessary, the phone is powerful but it's a mobile device with limited processing capabilities. The Messages app shows threads and having to deal with too many messages could slow the entire system.
In fact some of our group text app heavy users on ios4 were having big issues until they cleared the archive.
What I suppose they could do instead Of limiting the archive is to 'consider' only the last 12 months when using the Messages App and automatically store in a secondary archive the older messages.
Having a limit on the max number of archived messages is necessary, the phone is powerful but it's a mobile device with limited processing capabilities. The Messages app shows threads and having to deal with too many messages could slow the entire system.
In fact some of our group text app heavy users on ios4 were having big issues until they cleared the archive.
What I suppose they could do instead Of limiting the archive is to 'consider' only the last 12 months when using the Messages App and automatically store in a secondary archive the older messages.
Very new to this, and not very tech savvy, but I love my iPhone! I also love texting, and I'm sad that I can only have a limited amount of messages in my inbox. But I understand it might be necessary for my phone to run properly...
So my question is, if I last backed up my phone when I had way too many messages it (since then I've deleted some in attempt to make the text messages work again), is there a way to get all of those back to download it to my computer and then delete them from my phone? I tried restoring from back up, but it still doesn't have the messages I deleted after backing up the phone. If I reset to factory settings, and somehow not install the new iOS, would I be able to see those old messages? I apologize for my stupidity with all of this! Thanks to anyone that can offer some advice!
So my question is, if I last backed up my phone when I had way too many messages it (since then I've deleted some in attempt to make the text messages work again), is there a way to get all of those back to download it to my computer and then delete them from my phone? I tried restoring from back up, but it still doesn't have the messages I deleted after backing up the phone. If I reset to factory settings, and somehow not install the new iOS, would I be able to see those old messages? I apologize for my stupidity with all of this!
Thanks to anyone that can offer some advice!Here's what worked for me...
First, let me say. For shame Steve-Job-less apple for implementing such a ridiculous solution. One leg up I've always had on other phones is that I know the history of all text message exchanges with anyone I've ever texted. And while that's slightly packrat-ish, with the declining costs of storage AND the opportunity to sell it at a cost (I've always bought the BIGGEST of any of each of your phones), it should remain an option. I hope you re-visit this constraint. OK...off the soapbox.
Yaayy, me for registering to post a solution that worked for me.
It seems that the speculation of the maximum number of text messages is right. Just how many is still TBD. It's not 75k because I got well below that and was still not getting texting. And how do I know how many I had? Introducing PHONE VIEW. (I got this solution of the apple community forum but I started here so I wanted to share it here.) Phoneview is a cool little tool that you can use to view and archive (not edit or delete) texts, pictures, voicemails, files and most other auxiliary memory features.
So here's the solution that worked for me.
Purchase and install Phone View
Plug your phone in and let phone view backup all your texts.
Delete SMS threads. I went through my SMS mailbox and deleted old threads until the new text messages started blinking in. I've seen published numbers of the limit being 75k and 50k. I had to get even lower. It kinda doesn't matter since you now have archives.
Quit messages (as in really quit, not just put in the background)
Power off, power on... messages come in.
Of course, this is not the best solution as I'd have preferred to have kept all of my texts on my phone, but at least they're backed up and accessible on my computer. And for me, it's certainly better than restoring as a new phone and losing all of them.
Make this right Apple.
First, let me say. For shame Steve-Job-less apple for implementing such a ridiculous solution. One leg up I've always had on other phones is that I know the history of all text message exchanges with anyone I've ever texted. And while that's slightly packrat-ish, with the declining costs of storage AND the opportunity to sell it at a cost (I've always bought the BIGGEST of any of each of your phones), it should remain an option. I hope you re-visit this constraint. OK...off the soapbox.
Yaayy, me for registering to post a solution that worked for me.
It seems that the speculation of the maximum number of text messages is right. Just how many is still TBD. It's not 75k because I got well below that and was still not getting texting. And how do I know how many I had? Introducing PHONE VIEW. (I got this solution of the apple community forum but I started here so I wanted to share it here.) Phoneview is a cool little tool that you can use to view and archive (not edit or delete) texts, pictures, voicemails, files and most other auxiliary memory features.
So here's the solution that worked for me.
Purchase and install Phone View
Plug your phone in and let phone view backup all your texts.
Delete SMS threads. I went through my SMS mailbox and deleted old threads until the new text messages started blinking in. I've seen published numbers of the limit being 75k and 50k. I had to get even lower. It kinda doesn't matter since you now have archives.
Quit messages (as in really quit, not just put in the background)
Power off, power on... messages come in.
Of course, this is not the best solution as I'd have preferred to have kept all of my texts on my phone, but at least they're backed up and accessible on my computer. And for me, it's certainly better than restoring as a new phone and losing all of them.
Make this right Apple.
Update to previously discussed problem
Well after spending two hours at the genius bar, the guy told me exactly what everyone else has been saying, which is to restore the phone as new. For me, i had everything backed up to my cloud, but when i went to restore from the cloud, its the same issue as before. So now, i'm restoring as a brand new phone and will have to go through and put back on my apps and rearrange them and have basically lost all the texts i've deleted in the process of trying ot clear space. But, texts and voicemails did start coming in. Very frustrating overall- and the apple guys hadn't yet encountered one person with this problem with is interesting.
I'm also pretty sure the actual number of texts in your inbox isn't really relevant to the problem. There are people who have ios5 working perfectly who still have all their texts. Its a software glitch that is preventing the texts from coming in, regardless of how many there are.
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Well after spending two hours at the genius bar, the guy told me exactly what everyone else has been saying, which is to restore the phone as new. For me, i had everything backed up to my cloud, but when i went to restore from the cloud, its the same issue as before. So now, i'm restoring as a brand new phone and will have to go through and put back on my apps and rearrange them and have basically lost all the texts i've deleted in the process of trying ot clear space. But, texts and voicemails did start coming in. Very frustrating overall- and the apple guys hadn't yet encountered one person with this problem with is interesting.
I'm also pretty sure the actual number of texts in your inbox isn't really relevant to the problem. There are people who have ios5 working perfectly who still have all their texts. Its a software glitch that is preventing the texts from coming in, regardless of how many there are.
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65000 messages deleted, SMS works now
After upgrading to iOS5, my daughter got the "SMS inbox full" error and couldn't send/receive SMS messages.
I took Stealthque's advice. I downloaded the demo version of Phoneview and found my daughter had 85598 messages on her iPhone4 so I purchased the full version of Phoneview and exported conversations from her ex-boyfriend and then deleted them from her phone. In one year they accumulated 65000 texts. Now she only has 20000 messages and she can send and receive SMS texts.
This is not an optimal solution but it at least allowed my high school senior to get back to texting.
After upgrading to iOS5, my daughter got the "SMS inbox full" error and couldn't send/receive SMS messages.
I took Stealthque's advice. I downloaded the demo version of Phoneview and found my daughter had 85598 messages on her iPhone4 so I purchased the full version of Phoneview and exported conversations from her ex-boyfriend and then deleted them from her phone. In one year they accumulated 65000 texts. Now she only has 20000 messages and she can send and receive SMS texts.
This is not an optimal solution but it at least allowed my high school senior to get back to texting.