Benjamin Stein, CTO of Mobile Commons, published a rather interesting story on his blog, with a topic that will make some wonder about Apple's tactics.
Ben begins his story by stating: “Two months ago I switched from iPhone to Android. I’ve been an iOS fanatic since day one, but I just couldn’t deal with iOS7 anymore (although that’s a topic for another post).”
Praising his experience with Android, he continues, “I got a Verizon MotoX and I couldn’t be happier. “I could pretty much change every app I used and everything was ready and working on Android just like it was on my iPhone.”
Then he noticed something very strange was happening. He wasn't getting text messages from many of his friends. Then he tried to send a text message to himself and his friends, but the same problem would occur: the SMS wouldn't send.
While investigating the issue, Ben learned that his friends' iOS devices were still trying to send iMessages to his number, but he no longer used an iPhone.
He reported the problem to Apple in an attempt to get rid of the problem, but to no avail. The only solution, Apple said, was to tell all his iPhone contacts to delete their entire SMS conversations with him.
“… The vast majority of the messages I’ve sent over the past three years are group messages with pictures of our kids. It would be bad enough if I had to delete 5 years of my message history. But to have to ask my wife, my sister, my best friends, and literally everyone I know to delete THEIR message history? Are you kidding me!” Ben says indignantly.
“I feel held hostage. There is no solution and it is absurd that Apple is holding my phone number hostage and there is no way for me to get it back.”
The publication is available at blog.benjaminste.in.
Apple could theoretically fix this flaw in a future software update, but, until then, Ben will be held hostage to iOS.
