Former iPhone User Sues Apple Over iMessage Disruption On Android

A former iPhone user is suing Apple because her friends and family have difficulty texting her now that she’s traded in her old smartphone for an Android-based handset.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung Galaxy S5 owner Adrienne Moore has filed a class action lawsuit in San Jose, California, claiming that Apple’s iMessage service, which allows iPhone and iPad users to send instant messages to each other, retains messages intended for her and doesn’t send them.

iMessage woes

This is because her phone number is associated with iMessage so whenever anyone with an iPhone tries to contact her, the messaging application attempts to send messages as an iMessage rather than a text message that could be received by an Android user, or the user of any mobile phone.

Moore’s complaint says people who replace their Apple device with rival handsets are “penalised” and unable to obtain the full benefits of their mobile contracts. Her lawsuit seeks class action status and undetermined damages on the basis that Apple failed to disclose that switching to a non-iOS smartphone would result in messaging interference.

iMessage launched with iOS 5 in September 2011, and along with cross-platform apps such as WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), has contributed to a rise in the popularity of over-the-top messaging services and the fall in the number of text messages sent by UK mobile users.

However iMessage users have suffered from a number of outages, most notably last October when iOS 7.0.2 caused significant disruption.

How much do you know about the iPhone? Take our quiz!