Apple Faces Lawsuit Over Phone-Switching iMessage Problem

A former iPhone user has filed a lawsuit against Apple over an issue that prevents iPhones from sending text messages to Android phones. According to the lawsuit documents obtained by Bloomberg, the user claims that she stopped getting messages after switching to an Android phone.

This isn’t a new issue: Many former iPhone users complained about having the same experience. Somehow, the iMessage sent to a deactivated iPhone gets stuck in the system instead of being sent as a text message.

The news comes after former Lifehacker editor-in-chief Adam Pash published a blog post highlighting that Apple is aware of this issue but is unable to provide a fix. He switched to Android only to discover that his phone number is still associated with iMessage. This meant that while the sender gets a “delivered” receipt, the recipient gets nothing.

Since the bug isn’t new, there is a fix from a TechCrunch tipster that dates back to 2012. When Apple enabled iMessage on all iOS devices with iOS 5, a post at Ask Different explained how iMessage is smart enough to check whether the recipient is running iOS 5 or not.

Since it’s tied to a registered Apple ID, unregistering the device would logically solve the issue, but as the long thread in Apple Support Communities shows, it doesn’t. The fix has to come from Apple, which isn’t talking about the matter.

The lawsuit was filed in San Jose, and it is seeking class-action status.

Image credit: Maclife