You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Texting with android device & my iPhone

I have rechecked the SMS and the MMS boxes on my iPhone, but still can’t send or receive texts if my son with the android phone is involved. Don’t know what else to do!

iPhone 8

Posted on Sep 3, 2019 7:09 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 3, 2019 7:34 AM

What happens when you try to text? Are you getting an error message? Can you send SMS messages to other people?


There are no options on an iPhone to turn SMS on or off. The only setting that mentions SMS is the one lets you request the phone send an SMS to an iMessage user if the iMessage fails. It would have nothing to do with sending an SMS to an Android user.


Did your son switch from an iPhone to an Android? If so, Apple's system may not be recognizing the change. Have him follow these instructions:


Deregister and Turn Off iMessage - Apple Support


You may also need to delete his contact information and any messages threads with him once he's done that. Then, add the contact information back.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 3, 2019 7:34 AM in response to patfromhope

What happens when you try to text? Are you getting an error message? Can you send SMS messages to other people?


There are no options on an iPhone to turn SMS on or off. The only setting that mentions SMS is the one lets you request the phone send an SMS to an iMessage user if the iMessage fails. It would have nothing to do with sending an SMS to an Android user.


Did your son switch from an iPhone to an Android? If so, Apple's system may not be recognizing the change. Have him follow these instructions:


Deregister and Turn Off iMessage - Apple Support


You may also need to delete his contact information and any messages threads with him once he's done that. Then, add the contact information back.

Sep 3, 2019 9:58 AM in response to patfromhope

There's nothing to "keep in reserve". He can't use iMessage from an Android phone even if the phone number is the same as his old iPhone. He should deregister as soon as possible or he's going to miss a lot of messages and have a lot of frustrated friends and relatives. Should he ever start using the iPhone again, he can turn iMessages back on for that phone number.


Tell him your going to start actually calling him if he doesn't get it resolved! ;-)

Texting with android device & my iPhone

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.