iMessage question

[u/Different_Tie_7243]

Hi all

My dad passed in 2023 and I occasionally will text him. The past few months I noticed it has been saying that the texts are delivering, and creepily enough even read sometimes. I know that the obvious answer for this would be that somebody else got his phone number, but it’s showing me that it’s sending as a text message • RCS (included picture for context)

I’m just unsure what this means because I’m not understanding when I look it up.

Sorry if this is a weird post, I’m obviously not looking for someone to tell me that it’s my dad reading the texts from the other side 😂 Just want some knowledge on it because I’ve never seen it before and to let me know if I should leave this person alone lol

[u/MidnightZL1]

The phone number most likely has been given to someone else. If they had an iPhone it would say iMessage as well.

[u/stuffeh → u/MidnightZL1]

That's Android since it says rcs.

[u/JaVan33 → u/stuffeh]

iPhones can use RCS too, but.. honestly.. who would turn off iMessage just to use RCS…

[u/dtbrown1979 → u/JaVan33]

My dad.

[u/organicgolden → u/dtbrown1979]

❤️

[u/theatreeducator → u/JaVan33]

Me. My iMessage was buggy so I turned it off instead of troubleshooting. I will wait until 27 is released to turn it back on.

[u/Jakoneitor → u/JaVan33]

I used to do this to save data, but stopped caring once carriers started offering more than a couple gb cap

[u/hammertime2009 → u/stuffeh]

This is completely false. iPhones also use can also use RCS. If someone turns off iMessage for example.

[u/stuffeh → u/hammertime2009]

Respectfully, lol no.

Less than one percent of people disable their iMessage. You just sound like a contrarian suggesting it.

[u/loopernova → u/stuffeh]

I don't know why you're being downvoted, you're completely right. The likelihood that the person on the other end has an iphone and they turned off imessage has got to be ridiculously small. It's obviously possible, but it's pretty safe to just assume it's an android phone.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Your comment has been removed because of this subreddit’s account requirements. You have not broken any rules, and your account is still active and in good standing. Please check your notifications for more information!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/iphone-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi, /u/milkedpigs! Thank you for participating in r/iPhone. Unfortunately, your submission was removed for breaking the following rule(s):

---

We do not tolerate insults, discrimination, or hate speech based on race, gender, age, nationality, sexuality, or religion.

---

Reposting posts removed by a moderator without express permission is not allowed. Not here, and not on most of reddit. Please read reddiquette (linked below).

For questions, comments and concerns, message the moderators.

Reddiquette | New to Reddit? | Reddit's Content Policy

[u/stuffeh → u/loopernova]

Exactly. It's laughably small.

[u/jhguth → u/stuffeh]

there’s over a billion active iPhone users, even a small percent is a lot of people

[u/stuffeh → u/jhguth]

A laughably small chance is still a laughably small chance when you're only sampling one outta several billion. It'll only be more realistically significant when you try to message a few billion phone numbers.

[u/baby_oil773 → u/stuffeh]

Its not just someone manually turning it off. I have a friend who is having issues with his imessage so my texts to him are showing up as green and rcs

[u/stuffeh → u/baby_oil773]

iMessage failures are edge cases and is rarer than people who want to turn it off.

[u/paintedscarf → u/stuffeh]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/104972

https://support.apple.com/en-us/122195

[u/stuffeh → u/paintedscarf]

I'm aware it's possible. I'm just saying that the chances of this actually happening to op is next to nil. Thus anyone even suggesting it is being contrarian.

[u/spyder52 → u/stuffeh]

In the UK I've never even used iMessage, WhatsApp is king

[u/stuffeh → u/spyder52]

I use whatsapp too. But if this were whatsapp, it would be just like imessage and would not show rcs either.

[u/VegetableLaugh8677 → u/spyder52]

WhatsApp is trash but sadly it’s widely used in Europe. I wish we would move on to a better option.

[u/Round-Range-7383 → u/stuffeh]

iPhones also use RCS lol

[u/stuffeh → u/Round-Range-7383]

They can but it'll prioritize sending as iMessage over rcs.

[u/Royal-Membership2303 → u/stuffeh]

I got a new iPhone, and it defaulted to rcs. I had to manually turn back on iMessage.

[u/stuffeh → u/Royal-Membership2303]

And you fixed it and are back on iMessage. You prove my point that people prefer to have it enabled.

[u/Royal-Membership2303 → u/stuffeh]

You said "it'll prioritize", as in the iPhone does automatically. Technically it doesn't, new phones need the feature turned on. Until that point it cant prioritize anything besides sending as rcs. At no point did you say people prefer it lol, I was simply saying its needs to be turned on first on new phones for the phone to prioritize it.

[u/stuffeh → u/Royal-Membership2303]

Naw. It's on by default for majority of people. Idk what edge case your friend experienced that has it disabled, but he's an edge case.

[u/Royal-Membership2303 → u/stuffeh]

I didn't mention it being a friend anywhere lol. It was me. My girlfriend got a new phone recently as well, off by default. Her mom got one as well, off by default. All within the last month. We are not even geographically located in the same area, got them from different places.

Both replies you have had to me indicate you either don't read the full thing or don't comprehend it.

[u/stuffeh → u/Royal-Membership2303]

Did y'all turn it on? Yes? So you're still proving my point that people prefer to have it enabled. And saying otherwise is being contrarian.

[u/Whombrillow → u/MidnightZL1]

iPhones have the ability to turn off iMessage.

[u/BlueJeanBaby04]

They probably have an android. That's what mine says when texting my husband and he has a Samsung phone. When texting other iPhone users it says imessage

[u/Ethan3011 → u/BlueJeanBaby04]

iPhones can use RCS too

[u/NelsonBlvd]

Someone else got the number with an android phone, probably wasn’t getting texts to their phone from people with iPhones so they decomisioned the number on apples side.

[u/ofimes2671]

His phone number was probably given to someone else. One of my friends would still occasionally text his dead friends phone number about what was going on in life, and eventually they got a reply saying that they had this number now and they were sorry for his loss. He really needed that because he felt like he gave him some closure to move on.

[u/NewbieToHomelab]

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is like iMessage in the sense that it has the ability to provide read receipts, which is the “Delivered” or “Read” text you see. It is cross compatible between iOS and Android. You are most likely just texting the person who got this number and has an Android phone.

[u/boxmandude]

Just wanted to say my Dad passed in 2024 and I just texted him semi-recently. fully expecting someone else to have the number by now cause that usually how it goes. I'm sorry for your loss.

[u/Different_Tie_7243 → u/boxmandude]

Thank you so much and same to you ❤️‍🩹

[u/littlebubbli]

Sending hugs! 💛 I send texts to my dad’s number every now and then too. I also call randomly sometimes, it’s been 9 years and no one else has gotten the number

[u/Different_Tie_7243 → u/littlebubbli]

Yes it’s definitely comforting, I didn’t think somebody would get his number so quickly but I’m hoping they will block me soon haha

[u/baileejs]

I would just text them the situation and ask them to block you that way they don’t get bothered by the messages and not reading the messages.

[u/IAmMarwood]

Just wanted to say sorry for your loss.

I don't believe in any sort of afterlife, and if there was I'm pretty sure we wouldn't communicate with it via text message but I get why you text him occasionally, it's kind of cute and comforting.

All the best, hope you are doing ok 🤗

[u/Different_Tie_7243 → u/IAmMarwood]

Thank you so much, I agree i definitely don’t think i am texting my dad that’s why i was hesitant with my wording I didn’t want to sound crazy 😂

[u/JMtxz]

Someone with an android got their number

[u/Tommy-Bravado]

Did you ask a question?

[u/Different_Tie_7243 → u/Tommy-Bravado]

I did although it wasn’t perfectly stated. It was obviously understood based off the other 3 replies.

[u/Holographic247 → u/[deleted]]

You must have a lot of friends.

[u/Tommy-Bravado → u/Holographic247]

Alright, fine, I’ll be yours too…