Comment by GauntletWizard

11 years ago

SMS? Or SMS, iChat, Hangouts, Whatsapp, and the thousands of others that use your SMS number as username? Some (iChat, Hangouts) even steal your SMSs and place them on proprietary networks; If you switch devices from iPhone to Android or vice-versa, messages get lost.

7 comments

GauntletWizard

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toomuchtodo  11 years ago

SMS, the network.

> If you switch devices from iPhone to Android or vice-versa, messages get lost.

I moved from an Android phone to an iPhone, back to an Android, and then back to an iPhone again. I never had my messages in limbo, and its easy to fix (at least, on the Apple side) if it occurs: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204270

Note that link also comes up as a search engine provided result by google just by googling "disable imessages". That's stupid simple.

  • cplease  11 years ago

    First of all, I'll wager a supermajority of iPhone users do not understand any distinction between iMessage and SMS. Apple designs away the distinction. Secondly, when an ex-iPhone user ports away their number and is able to send SMS's without issue and receive SMS's from most of the world except for iMessage senders, how are they supposed to 1) discover they have lost messages before they lose something critical, and 2) discern that the cause of their inexplicably lost messages, is that they need to "disable iMessage", when they are not even an Apple user anymore?

    I'm not an Apple hater, I use Apple products, but this is a huge fuckup and the OTT fragmentation is a real issue vis-a-vis SMS.

    And SMS is not IM so your premise from the start is a nonsequitor. It's telephony, it's wildly and widely overpriced and non-open.

    • 72deluxe  11 years ago

      I think you're right about the lack of widespread distinction between SMS and an iMessage. It's sad.

      Even sadder are the news articles (like ones you find in the technology section on the BBC website) where they refer to instant messaging as wonderful and then "if you're a bit old fashioned" and still use email...... At least emails can be easily retrieved and archived.

      Perhaps people don't care about the transport medium (phone network or Internet) but it is an important distinction. It's even more important for Google users because Hangouts is very flaky for me, unlike SMS.