Apple to Face a Federal Lawsuit Over Lost iPhone Text Messages

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California has ordered Apple to face a U.S. federal lawsuit, claiming that the company failed to warn consumers that its messaging system would block them from receiving text messages if they switched to Android-based smartphones from iPhones, Reuters is reporting.

Apple recently released a new tool which enables iPhone users to deregister iMessage if they are not receiving text messages from their existing iOS friends. However, Judge Lucy Koh has said that the Cupertino giant must face plaintiff Adrienne Moore’s claim that the message blocking interfered with her contract with Verizon, which she kept after switching in April to a Samsung Galaxy S5 from an iPhone 4. The Judge added that Moore deserved a chance to show Apple disrupted her wireless service contract and violated a California unfair competition law.

“Moore, who seeks class-action status and unspecified damages, claimed that Apple failed to disclose how its iOS 5 software operating system would obstruct the delivery of “countless” messages from other Apple device users if iPhone users switched to non-Apple devices.

“Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple’s intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship,” Koh wrote in a Monday night decision. The judge also dismissed some claims tied to another California consumer protection law.”

Apple has noted in court papers that it never claimed the iMessage service and Messages application would recognize when iPhone users switched to rival devices.