Apple sued over text messaging issues related to switching away from iPhone

Apple is being sued yet again, this time from a former iPhone user who claims the company's iMessage service is causing texts coming to her new Android smartphone to vanish.

According to the complaint filed on Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, plaintiff Adrienne Moore says Apple device owners are "penalized and injured" when switching away from iMessage. The lawsuit was first spotted by Bloomberg.

In her claim, Moore notes she was automatically opted-in to use iMessage when her iPhone 4 updated to iOS 5. When she later traded in that device for a Galaxy S5 in April, iMessage continued to send text messages originating from other iPhone users to the now deactivated Apple smartphone without forwarding them to the Samsung handset. Senders are not notified that their message was not forwarded, leaving both parties in the lurch.

Apple has been aware of this issue since the release of iOS 5. In a support document covering iMessage troubleshooting, the company warns users to turn off the proprietary service prior to transferring their SIM card or phone number to a non-iOS device. If proper steps are not taken, other iOS devices may continue to send text messages via iMessage instead of SMS or MMS for up to 45 days.

Moore claims she and other iOS device owners were not made sufficiently aware of the system issue and as a result missed "countless" texts, causing irreparable harm.

The lawsuit is seeking class-status under California's unfair competition law, claiming iMessage is wrongfully interfering with customers' wireless contracts by restricting the use of carrier text messaging systems.

IMessage Complaint

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184 Comments

tlevier

said about 9 years ago

But who should have standing? Apple isn't interfering with their SMS's. The problem is with their remaining customers who have an iPhone that improperly recognizes a contact as an iMessage contact. I would think that the sender would have standing, and if you look at their options, the could simply turn off iMessage to send an SMS (or hold down on the blue coded message and select "Send as Text Message")

emoeller

said about 9 years ago

I suppose ignorance is as good an excuse as any for a lawsuit ....

MacPro

said about 9 years ago

Just switch back lady, ....solved.

mr. h

said about 9 years ago

I think suing is way over the top, but this is a problem for which Apple needs to develop a better solution. It's too easy to be ignorant of the fact that - or to forget that - you need to deactivate iMessage before moving to a different type of phone. Similarly, it can be easy, when selling a device, to forget to deactivate it for iTunes purchases. Normally, you can only deactivate a device from that specific device, but if you've already sold it, it can be too late. In that case, Apple offers a mechanism that allows you to deactivate all devices, via a log-in to your iTunes account from any device, and the effect is immediate. They need some way that a user can deactivate iMessage without needing the actual device and without having to wait for 45 days.