Why won't my Note 3 receive SMS from iPhones?

[robastewart]

Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Recently made the switch from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Loving the Android OS on the Samsung device. But when attempting text messaging with family and friend who still have iPhones, their texts do not reach me. I can text them, though. I have disabled iMessage on my iPhone and iPad. My wife deleted then recreated my contact on her iPhone. We made sure my phone number is not associated with iMessage on my iPhone and iPad. Still, texts from iPhones will not come through. Any ideas what to do or where else to turn?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Recently made the switch from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Loving the Android OS on the Samsung device. But when attempting text messaging with family and friend who still have iPhones, their texts do not reach me. I can text them, though. I have disabled iMessage on my iPhone and iPad. My wife deleted then recreated my contact on her iPhone. We made sure my phone number is not associated with iMessage on my iPhone and iPad. Still, texts from iPhones will not come through. Any ideas what to do or where else to turn?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forums, and Android!
I don't pay much attention to this problem, even though I should, but you may be able to call Apple and have them remove your number. And isn't there some kind of setting for messages to go through as SMS?

 

[anon8378318]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

It's a known Apple issue. People who have an iPhone who text you when you did must reset your contact to let the device know you no longer have iOS. They must turn off their iMessage then turn it back on. That should refresh you in the iPhone as a non iPhone user now.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[UJ95x]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Welcome to the forums, and Android!
I don't pay much attention to this problem, even though I should, but you may be able to call Apple and have them remove your number. And isn't there some kind of setting for messages to go through as SMS?

Yes, by default iPhones don't use SMS. He needs to turn off iMessage and delete his old conversation thread

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[robastewart]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Thanks for the sensible suggestions so far. I tried the iMessage reset and contact deletion on my wife's iPhone. With iMessage off, an SMS text from her iPhone reached my Note 3 message app. But with iMessage turned back on on her phone, it again saw my renewed contact (with same ol' phone number, of course) as an iMessage address. This is inconvenient.

 

[anon8378318]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Make sure you delete and start a brand new thread as well after turning off iMessage. Extreme scenario have your contact deleted and redone. This is in no way an Android issue, it is an iOS side issue. A stupid one at that. I've worked for mobile retailers and still do, and this has been an issue with iMessage for far too long. I think Apple doesn't want to fix it on purpose just to trick users switching to Android to come back thinking it's the Android phone's fault.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[GadgetMomma]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Several things may help.

If you still have your old iPhone , turn off iMessage on it. If you and your wife share an iTunes account, go to iMessages in her phone and make sure your number isn't checked. I can't remember if you can delete it or if it just goes grayscale. Delete if you can. Also, do this if you have any other apple devices. Computers, ipad, etc.

Then you need to unregister your phone with Apple. It's located somewhere in apple's website, I'm not entirely sure where, but a google search will bring it up. You log in with your apple info then you can register or deregister devices.

Next, go to your iTunes on your computer. Go to the store tab, then view account. In the "iTunes in the cloud" section, there is an area to manage devices. If your phone is still there, remove it as well.

Finally, delete the message threads and reboot the phones. It should have cleared everything out, but don't be worried if it takes a little bit for it to start working correctly. Your wife shouldn't have to leave iMessage off, but if her messages aren't going through, just select the option that says "send as sms if iMessage isn't working" or something like that. Her messages will start out blue then switch to green after a delay. But it should eventually switch completely over. It's almost like your number has to filter out of apples iMessage system. Haha

I think for me it took less than a day for it to fully work. I hope these suggestions help!

 

[mountainman]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Don't former iPhone people use the search function? This question has been asked a thousand times.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Mobile Nations mobile app

 

[NotJustAPhone]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Don't former iPhone people use the search function? This question has been asked a thousand times.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Mobile Nations mobile app

If you don't care for the thread or a post, then just move on. If you believe a post is inappropriate, please report the post to the moderator team. Posting in a thread to complain about it is not an appropriate response. I suggest that you take the opportunity to review the AC forum rules, a portion of which is excerpted below.

"Telling someone to "Search" - Do not reply to a question by telling someone to do a search. Kindly suggest a search link, answer their question, or feel free not to respond."

 

[jay10203]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

what you need to do is, tell anyone thats texting you from an iPhone to go into there contacts and go to you and where it says your phone number set it to mobile instead of iPhone.. thats what my wife had to do cause i switch to the note 3 and her texts weren't coming threw and now they are hope this helps...

 

[TheMacs]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Thanks NotJustAPhone.

Maybe this issue should be sticky-ed, if it hasn't already. It does come up a lot. Obviously, I haven't searched.

 

[jelliebean82]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

My husband and I went through this very same issue just about a week ago. He upgraded to the Note 3 about 4 days before me. I still had my iPhone. Basically he sold his iPhone, but never turned off the "imessage" before wiping it clean and selling. We found out the hard way what a PAIN this is. For about a day and a half I (along with other iPhone users) could not text him and not able to receive them either.

Long story short.....called Apple, they say his number is not registered as a iPhone number anymore...wait 24 hours. I deleted his number/contact from my phone. Also deleted all previous messages from him. Nothing worked. I ended up having to take my phone to ATT store and they gave me a new SIM card. It worked after that.

I upgraded to the Note 3 a couple of days later and made sure to turn OFF the imessage before wiping it clean and selling.

Soooooo....turn it off before you switch. Problem won't happen!

 

[Xin-Young]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Same problem here. It sucks that in order to fix this, other people have to do the work.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[JellyBeanGurl]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

My family and friends had to go into their iPhone settings and turn on SMS.

Sent From My Samsung Note 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Graphixx30]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

I'm having a similar issue. Since I switched to the Note 3 from an iPhone 5s I can't receive any group messages from iPhone users. If they send me an individual text they come through, but if they include me in a group message I don't receive the text. My number has been removed iMessage and I've even called Apple asking them to remove my number from their database. It's very strange.

 

[UJ95x]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

I'm having a similar issue. Since I switched to the Note 3 from an iPhone 5s I can't receive any group messages from iPhone users. If they send me an individual text they come through, but if they include me in a group message I don't receive the text. My number has been removed iMessage and I've even called Apple asking them to remove my number from their database. It's very strange.

It's an issue on their side :-\
Do they have SMS turned on?

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[zapfrog]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

Simple solution would be to get everyone an Android phone

Posted via Android Central App

 

[cwbcpa]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

The default on iPhone used to be that if an iMessage didn't go through from your iPhone that it would then send as a SMS. Now you have to go into settings and turn that function on. So your iPhone using friends/family probably don't realize that this switch is off. Bottom line is two things need to happen to avoid any issues: 1) you turn off iMessage before deactivating your iphone 2) your friends and family need to have that switch turned on under settings>messages> "Send as SMS".

Those two things should solve the problem. It's unfortunate that Apple has that switch off by default. Even when sending to another iPhone, if iMessage is down you would want the message sent via SMS. It just makes sense to have it on.

 

[Graphixx30]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

It's an issue on their side :-\
Do they have SMS turned on?

They do have SMS turned on. I know this because I turned it on for them. I still don't receive their messages if I am part of a group message, only when they text me separately do I receive them.

 

[GadgetMomma]

Re: Note 3 Won't Receive SMS from iPhones

They do have SMS turned on. I know this because I turned it on for them. I still don't receive their messages if I am part of a group message, only when they text me separately do I receive them.

Now, I will add in here - even after I did everything I possibly could to ensure my phone was no longer linked with iMessage, there was still one group that I texts with that just never worked. It was odd because it would have made sense if the other people in the group were both iPhones, but one was iphone and one was an s3. I found the suggestion here in the forums to download a third party texting app, and that would force the group messaging, and they were right. Textra is by far the best for this. Give it a shot, it is a lightweight third party texting app that will hopefully keep your groups threads in the group.