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Apple Releases iMessage Deregistration Utility

Posted by samzenpus on from the try-it-now dept.

tlhIngan writes When moving from an iPhone to something else, if you were an avid user of iMessage, you may find your messages missing, especially from iOS-using friends. Indeed, it has been such a problem that there are even lawsuits about it. While Apple has maintained that users can always switch off iMessage, that only works if you still have your iOS device. Unless one also has other iOS devices or a Mac, they may not even realize their friends have been sending messages that are queued up on Apple's services via iMessage. Well, that problem has been resolved with Apple creating a deregistration utility to remove your phone number from the iMessage servers so friends will no longer send you texts via iMessage that you can no longer receive. It's a two-step process involving proof of number ownership (via regular SMS) before deregistration takes place.

14 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Try explaining that... by sarguin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... to your grandma that if she wants to receive text message on their new Android/Nokia/... phone, she needs to turn off iMessage in their iPhone BEFORE activating her new mobile. Or if she forgot to do it, she just have to access an obscure Apple web page to do it. Thanks Apple for SMS service hijacking!

    1. Re:Try explaining that... by kannibal_klown · · Score: 2

      SMS used to be quite limited in the USA, but most providers started making "Unlimited" SMS either the standard or a very cheap price.

      I still still send / receive SMS. It's the one universal method to reach someone (other than calling). Meanwhile some of my friends use iMessage, some Hangouts, some WhatsApp, some email, etc. Instead of dealing with a bunch of different apps I just use iMessage app for SMS and iMessage.

      But when it comes to sending pics or whatever, I just use Email.

    2. Re:Try explaining that... by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Thanks Apple for SMS service hijacking!

      I think Occam's razor applies here. You can either read it as "EVIL APPLE, take over SMS to screw people OVER!!!!!" or you can read it as "Apple tried to make imessage a seamless extension on SMS, and got them a little too intermixed". I kind of see it more as the latter. Witness this with the issue with SMS/google account intermixing in Google Hangouts.

    3. Re:Try explaining that... by danlip · · Score: 4, Interesting

      SMS used to be quite limited in the USA, but most providers started making "Unlimited" SMS either the standard or a very cheap price.

      Which they did after iMessage and other alternative messaging services came out, of course. I'm grateful to Apple for forcing their hand.

  2. Re:Call me by tooslickvan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apple sent you a text via iMessage but you probably did not receive it.

  3. iMessage isn't bad... by MMC+Monster · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I actually like the idea behind iMessage: If you have internet access, sending a message via internet is potentially much cheaper than via SMS (unless you have an unlimited SMS plan). Even Apple's implementation of iMessage isn't too bad.

    The problem is that it's lock-in to Apple devices, of course. If Apple could get their head out of the sand and create a unified protocol with Google and whoever is left in the smartphone OS field (BlackBerry?, Mozilla?), it would be fantastic. Especially if the protocol was expanded a bit. Imagine being able to share files like via dropbox, but seemlessly through an SMS app?

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    1. Re:iMessage isn't bad... by the_B0fh · · Score: 2

      Uh, do you not read slashdot?

      http://tech.slashdot.org/story...

    2. Re:iMessage isn't bad... by exomondo · · Score: 2

      What lock-in? How exactly are you "locked in"? If you don't want it you can just not use it anymore or only use it when it's appropriate. Nothing stops somebody who is currently using iMessage from stopping using it and switching to email, Skype, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, etc ... This idea that vendor-specific somehow means "locked in" is getting pretty ridiculous, it's nothing of the sort.

  4. Re:It's all about the Phone Number ID by Rosyna · · Score: 2, Informative

    The real issue is that you can't opt out of automatically having your phone number become and account/id in iMessage.

    I want to use iMessage on my iPhone, but only with regular iCloud accounts, not with the phone number being used to create an account.

    Unfortunately, the iOS team doesn't give the user that option.

    The option is given when you set up a device for iMessage. It explicitly asks how you want to be contacted. By number, by email(s)/AppleIDs, or all of the above

  5. Re: Huh by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Not everyone has an "unlimited texts" contract. And when you compare the few dozen bytes required for a simple text message vs your data quota, it might as well be unlimited even with a monthly cap as low as 100MB.

    Also, iMessage also works on devices that are not a phone. This allows you to send a message from a Mac to another person who is on the road with his iPhone. Who the fuck needs SMS in 2014?

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  6. Re:Overdue by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    In Apple's defense, it took them 54 days to decide the radius for the corners of the patch.

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  7. Re:Great! Now how about... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Great! Now how about a utility for getting [...] all my data out of Time Machine?

    AFAIK Time Machine uses local storage. Then again I don't use iCloud, so maybe that's an option that I don't know about.

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  8. Re:Great! Now how about... by Imagix · · Score: 2

    For iPhoto: Select all of your photos... choose Export from the File menu. Pick "Original" as the format, pick a directory to dump them all into. Not sure what you mean about "all my data out of Time Machine". Almost like asking "all my data out of my ZFS filesystem" (and I mean _all_, not just the current state. Each and every snapshot I have ever made...).

  9. Re:Overdue by BasilBrush · · Score: 2

    February 14, 2012 to April 3, 2012 - is 18 days.

    And it's interesting that you had to go back 2.5 years for your mistaken example.