Apple Is Forcing us all to use “Messages” — Here’s why you should care.

“I tried switching to an android phone, I liked it a lot but I wasn’t getting my text messages”

I’ve heard this complaint dozens of times from people who’ve switched from an iOS to Android device. Most assume that it’s Android’s fault, that their old iPhone was just more reliable.

In reality, Apple continues to reroute these former customers’ texts through the “Messages” server, even after they’ve switched devices. Since “Messages” is exclusive to iOS Android users never get these texts.

When I explain that former Apple customers need to deregister their number from “Messages” if they ever want to see their texts again, I get blank stares. Whether Apple is doing this intentionally or not, most people just don’t understand what “Messages” are.

Here’s The Problem:

When you set up a new iPhone, Apple immediately signs you up for “Messages”. During the setup, Apple gives you a chance to opt out of the service, but it doesn’t even work. It literally doesn’t work. Look at this screen recording below:

. (Screen recording is edited to block my number)

I click “No.” They hijack my number anyway.

I did not edit this screen recording, except to obscure my number. It’s just as the recording shows — when I click “No,” Apple adds my number to “Messages” anyway.

Here’s what I did:

1. I deregistered my number from “Messagess”.

2. I wiped my iPhone.

3. I set up my iPhone as a “New Device” on my computer.

4. This dialog popped up on my computer.

5. I clicked “No.”

Geek Note: I use a Macbook Pro running OSX 10.11.3 and an iPhone 5s running iOS 9.2.1.

Apple Forces You to Use ‘Messages’ — Who Cares?

First, being stuck with Apple’s “Messages” makes it impossible to switch to any other device without losing text messages. Being tied to an Apple device is a set of golden handcuffs, but handcuffs nonetheless.

Second, Apple has hijacked a standard that used to be open. SMS (the well-established standard for text messaging) is an open standard that works on all devices. For years, SMS has seamlessly connected mobile devices all around the world.

Unlike a “Message,” any phone can send and receive an SMS without issue. Apple has hijacked this open standard for a walled garden.

These “Messages” are at times referred to as “iMessages” by Apple — It seems like Apple has been steering clear of this name since they changed the name of the app from “iMessages” to “Messages”.

Even Apple Users Don’t Understand “Messages”

Not only does Apple make people use “Messages”, most don’t even know that they’re not sending and receiving SMSs. To gage how well Apple customers understand “Messages,” I gave over 500 iPhone users the following survey:

A Screenshot of The Survey Given

“When you send someone a Message on your iPhone, what does that mean?”

Here are the results:

• 44.9% — You are sending them a “text” or an “sms”
• 39.5% — I don’t understand the question
• 15.6% — It’s different, iPhone specific “Messages”

Only 15.6% of iPhone users even know what’s really happening when they send a “Message” with their iPhone.

Apple forces its customers to use a texting service that only one in seven understands. In the age of unlimited SMSs, why forgo a well-established standard for such a confusing alternative?

Suspiciously, confusion about “Messages” benefits Apple. Rerouting texts through the “Messages” server makes Android devices look unreliable, Apple has essentially broken a widely adopted standard for it’s own benefit.

If Apple isn’t acting intentionally, it’s acting with negligence. The “Messages” bugs should have been resolved long ago. Apple doesn’t let users opt out and doesn’t even bother to communicate what’s happening in a clear way.

Users Have Sued Apple Over This Before

In December 2015, a federal judge dismissed a large class-action lawsuit regarding this issue because customers couldn’t prove that Apple was blocking messages from Android intentionally.

I am trying to opt out of iMessages and it forces me in. Is this simply a bug or an accident? Apple is clearly aware of the issue, but has yet to resolve the convenient bugs that are continuously forcing users into “Messages”.

What now?

Here’s my “Messages” bill of rights for Apple. They can and should do better with this issue.

1. Apple needs to fix the bug that makes an opt out become an opt in. (I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and call it a bug.)
2. Apple needs to tell its users what they are opting into when they choose “Messages”.
3. Apple needs to give iPhone users the option to send a text message as an SMS instead of only as a “Message.”
4. Apple needs to move towards, not away from, open standards. In 2010, Steve Jobs promised to make FaceTime an open standard. It would be fantastic if Apple came through on that promise for both FaceTime and “Messages”.

*Updated 3/25 to include a reference to iMessage for clarity’s sake.