Why Can’t I Send Text Messages? Troubleshooting Guide for iPhone and iPad

Experiencing issues sending text messages on your iPhone or iPad can be incredibly frustrating. Whether you’re seeing error alerts, messages stuck in sending, or simply not delivering at all, it disrupts communication and leaves you disconnected. This guide will walk you through the common reasons why you might be facing this problem and provide step-by-step solutions to get your messages sending again.

This article is designed to help you troubleshoot various messaging problems, including issues with iMessage, SMS, and MMS. We’ll cover everything from basic network connectivity checks to more advanced settings adjustments, ensuring you have a comprehensive resource to resolve your messaging woes.

Issues with Messages After Setting Up a New Device

Setting up a new iPhone or iPad should be an exciting experience, but sometimes it can lead to unexpected glitches with your messaging. A common issue arises when conversations in Messages appear as separate threads or when messages you send are displayed as green bubbles instead of the usual blue iMessage bubbles. This often occurs because your device settings need a little tweaking after the setup process.

Here’s how to ensure your new device is correctly configured for messaging:

1. Update to the Latest iOS or iPadOS: Software updates often contain fixes for known issues. Start by ensuring your device is running the most recent version of iOS or iPadOS. You can check for updates in Settings > General > Software Update. Keeping your software current is a crucial first step in resolving many tech problems.

2. Verify Cellular Settings: Your phone line needs to be active for sending text messages, especially SMS and MMS.

   • Open the Settings app and tap Cellular.
   • Confirm that your phone line is toggled on.
   • If you’re using dual SIMs, ensure the phone number you intend to use for messaging is selected and enabled.

3. Toggle iMessage Off and On: Refreshing iMessage can resolve activation issues or glitches that might occur during device setup.

   • In Settings, scroll down and tap Messages.
   • Toggle iMessage off, wait for a few seconds, and then toggle it back on. This simple step can often reconnect your iMessage service properly.

4. Check Send & Receive Settings: Incorrect settings here can lead to messages being associated with the wrong phone number or email.

   • Still in Messages settings, tap Send & Receive.
   • Ensure the phone number you want to use for sending and receiving messages is selected. You can choose both your phone number and Apple ID email, but selecting your phone number is vital for SMS and MMS functionality.

By following these steps, you can rectify common messaging issues that arise after setting up a new Apple device, ensuring seamless communication.

Message Not Delivered: Dealing with the Red Exclamation Point

The dreaded red exclamation point next to a message signals a delivery failure, a common roadblock in text messaging. When you see this alert accompanied by “Not Delivered,” it means your message hasn’t reached its recipient. Here’s how to troubleshoot and resend your message:

1. Check Your Network Connection: A stable network connection is essential for sending messages, especially iMessages which rely on Wi-Fi or cellular data.

   • Ensure you have a strong Wi-Fi signal or sufficient cellular data. Try loading a webpage or using an app that requires internet to verify your connection.
   • If your network is unstable, try moving to an area with better reception or connecting to a different Wi-Fi network.

2. Try Resending the Message: Sometimes, a temporary network hiccup can cause a message to fail.

   • Tap the red exclamation point icon located next to the undelivered message.
   • Select Try Again from the options presented. This will attempt to resend the message using the same method (iMessage or SMS/MMS).

3. Send as Text Message (SMS/MMS): If iMessage is unavailable or the recipient isn’t using an Apple device, sending as a text message can be an alternative.

   • If resending via iMessage fails again, tap the red exclamation point once more.
   • This time, choose Send as Text Message. Note that messaging rates may apply depending on your mobile plan, especially for MMS messages containing photos or videos.

Understanding the difference between iMessage and SMS/MMS is crucial. iMessages, appearing in blue bubbles, are Apple’s proprietary messaging service that works over Wi-Fi or cellular data between Apple devices. SMS/MMS messages, displayed in green bubbles, are traditional text messages that rely on your cellular network and messaging plan.

iPhone screen displaying a message with a blue bubble and a "Not Delivered" error below it

To ensure messages are automatically sent as SMS when iMessage isn’t available, you can enable the “Send as Text Message” feature. Navigate to Settings > Messages and toggle on Send as Text Message. This ensures your messages still get through even if iMessage has issues.

If you continue to receive a “Not Delivered” alert even after trying to send as a text message, further troubleshooting steps might be necessary, potentially involving contacting your carrier for SMS service issues.

Not Receiving Messages on One Device But Receiving on Another

Do you find yourself receiving messages on your iPhone but not on your iPad, or vice versa? This common issue often stems from your iMessage settings being configured to use your Apple ID email address instead of your phone number for message reception. To unify your messaging across devices, ensure your phone number is correctly set up to receive messages.

Here’s how to check and adjust these settings:

1. Access Messages Settings: Open the Settings app on the device that isn’t receiving messages correctly. Then, scroll down and tap Messages.

2. Go to Send & Receive: Within the Messages settings, tap on Send & Receive.

3. Choose Your Phone Number: In the Send & Receive settings, you will see a list of ways you can be reached for messages, including phone numbers and email addresses associated with your Apple ID.

   • Make sure your phone number is checked and selected as the primary way to start new conversations from and be reached at.
   • If you don’t see your phone number listed, you may need to link your iPhone number to your Apple ID.

If your phone number is missing, you can link it to your Apple ID, ensuring that your phone number is recognized for iMessage and FaceTime. Additionally, consider setting up Text Message Forwarding. This feature allows you to send and receive all SMS and MMS messages on all your Apple devices, creating a seamless messaging experience across your ecosystem. You can find Text Message Forwarding options within the Messages settings menu, under Send & Receive.

By properly configuring these settings, you can ensure that you receive messages consistently across all your Apple devices, whether it’s your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Issues with Group Messages: Missing Out on the Conversation

Group messages are a fantastic way to stay connected with multiple people, but sometimes you might find yourself suddenly missing messages from a group thread. If you’ve stopped receiving group messages, the first thing to check is whether you accidentally left the conversation or were removed.

Follow these steps to check your status in a group message:

1. Open Messages and Select the Group Chat: Launch the Messages app and tap on the group message from which you are not receiving new messages.

2. Check for “You Left” Message: Scroll up through the message history to see if there’s a system message indicating “You left the conversation.” or “[Contact Name] removed you from the conversation.”

   • If you see such a message, it confirms that you are no longer part of the group.

Regrettably, if you’ve left a group message yourself, you can only rejoin if someone currently in the group adds you back. You cannot manually rejoin a group you’ve exited. If you were removed, you also need someone to re-add you to participate again.

If you need to initiate a new group message:

1. Start a New Message: In Messages, tap the Compose button (usually a pen icon in the top right corner).

2. Add Contacts: Enter the phone numbers or email addresses of all the people you want to include in the group message.

3. Compose and Send: Type your message and tap the Send button.

For persistent issues with a group message, sometimes deleting the entire conversation thread and starting a new one can resolve underlying glitches. If you’re using iOS 16 or later, you might even be able to recover deleted messages within a certain timeframe if needed, but starting fresh often clears up ongoing problems.

Can’t Send or Receive Photos and Videos in Messages

Multimedia messages, like photos and videos, can enrich conversations, but issues sending or receiving them are not uncommon. If you’re having trouble with photos and videos in messages, consider these factors:

1. Check Device Storage: Your device needs sufficient free storage space to receive and process images and videos.

   • Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage (or iPad Storage) to check your available storage.
   • If your storage is nearly full, consider deleting unnecessary apps, photos, or files to free up space.

2. Attachment Size Limits (SMS/MMS): When sending photos or videos via SMS or MMS, your carrier may impose size restrictions on attachments. Larger files might take longer to send or fail to send altogether.

   • Carriers often have limitations on MMS size, which can vary.
   • iPhones can automatically compress photo and video attachments to facilitate sending, but very large files might still be problematic.

If you frequently encounter issues sending high-quality images, you can manually reduce the image quality for MMS messages:

1. Navigate to Messages Settings: Open Settings and tap Messages.

2. Enable Low Quality Image Mode: Scroll down and toggle on Low Quality Image Mode. This setting will reduce the quality of images sent via MMS, potentially making them easier to send and receive, especially over slower or congested networks.

By managing your device storage and understanding attachment size limits, you can minimize issues with sending and receiving photos and videos in your messages.

Other Troubleshooting Steps to Try

If you are still experiencing difficulties sending text messages after trying the solutions above, here are additional steps that can often resolve persistent issues:

• Restart Your Device: A simple restart can fix many temporary software glitches. Restart your iPhone or iPad to refresh its system processes.

• Verify Network Connection Again: Double-check your Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. A strong and stable network is crucial for all types of messaging.

• Contact Your Carrier: Ensure that the type of message you are trying to send (RCS, MMS, SMS) is supported by your mobile carrier and that there are no service outages or account-specific issues.

• Check Group Messaging Settings: If you’re having trouble with group MMS messages, go to Settings > Messages and ensure Group Messaging is turned on. If this option is missing, your carrier might not support group MMS.

• Confirm Contact Information: Make sure you have entered the correct phone number or email address for your contact. A simple typo can prevent messages from being delivered.

If, after trying all these steps, you still cannot send or receive iMessages, consider contacting Apple Support for more specialized assistance. If the problem persists with SMS, MMS, or RCS messages, reaching out to your mobile carrier is the next logical step to investigate potential network or account-related issues.

For users switching from iPhone to an Android device who experience ongoing messaging problems, it’s important to deactivate iMessage. This ensures that messages are sent as SMS instead of getting lost trying to be delivered as iMessages to a device that no longer supports it. Apple provides a tool to deregister iMessage to facilitate this transition smoothly.

By systematically working through these troubleshooting steps, you should be able to identify and resolve most common issues preventing you from sending text messages on your iPhone or iPad, keeping you connected and communicating effectively.