With the help of iMessages, all your friends and family members who have iPhone/iPad can communicate with you through SMS/MMS and any kind of carrier charges can be avoided along the way. Apple detects at its end that both the sender and the receiver should be using iOS and then it sends iMessagerather than regular SMS/MMS. However, if you plan to stop using the iPhone and witch to some other platform such as Android, you should better make Apple aware of the fact that you are switching to something else and won’t need iMessages anymore. So, in order to make sure that none of your important messages sent by others who are still on iOS are missed out, you should turn the service off before you move so that Apple doesn’t mistakenly continue to send you iMessages. Here we’ll discuss the two options that you have for deactivating iMessages.
Jump To Section:
- Disabling iMessage Prior To Leaving iPhone
- Deactivating iMessage Manually From The Apple’s Servers
Disabling iMessage Prior To Leaving iPhone
So, here are the steps that you need to follow before leaving iPhone and moving onto Android or some other platform for that matter.
- Go to Settings on your iPhone
- Tap on Messages
- Tap on slider in front of iMessage so that it can be turned off
- Now go to Settings again
- Tap Facetime
- Tap on slider in front of Facetime so that it can be turned off
Now go to Messages app to send a few messages to those who are also using iPhones just to be sure that you get the messages sent by them in reply. You should see messages bubbles in green for everything.
Once you find that everything is working properly, iMessagemust deactivate itself from the Apple’s servers. There shouldn’t be any issues whatsoever and nothing else should be done. Also, it is important to do this as soon you can while you’re up for making a switch. When you are sure of buying the new phone and switching to it inside 3 days, you should disable/deactivate iMessages right away. This will allow you to turn iMessages off and servers will have some time to process the request.
After switching the smartphone, just check to confirm if you can send/receive messages to others who are still using iPhone. If there is nothing coming back to you, you should try again to disable/deactivate iMessages.
Deactivating iMessage Manually From The Apple’s Servers
If you have switched to the new device already and somehow forgot to deactivate your iMessage account, or that your attempt to deactivate it failed, you have other options to consider. Apple gives you an alternative solution allowing you to manually deactivate the phone number on iMessage servers. Here is how you can do that.
- Browse to http://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage using your browser.
- Scroll down and find the section labeled ‘No longer have your iPhone?’
- Enter desired phone number that you want to deactivate on iMessage servers and then click on Send Code button.
- Check if you have received a text on the phone that you are using currently, and enter that code on the page that is now on your browser screen.
- Wait until you get the confirmation that your iMessage account is deactivated.
An alternate option for you is to call on 1-800-MY-APPLE to be able to manually deactivate your number from Apple servers. For this to work, you should have the Apple ID at hand and must also remember the phone number associated with iMessage.
In order to expedite your call process, make sure that you request technical support while calling. Tell the person who you talk to that you are switching your smartphone and are not able to receive the messages from those who are still using iMessages. Tell them that you want to be manually unregistered from iMessage servers to resolve the issue once and for all.
Any of the above mentioned options will do the job and you will be able to disable/deactivate iMessage on your iPhone/iPad. Try the first method initially and if that fails then try the manual one.