Apple promises to fix old iMessage bug

Apple promises to fix an old bug in iMessage. Due to the bug, iPhones always send text messages as an iMessage if the recipient has ever registered their number on iMessage, even if the recipient has since switched to a different phone type.

Due to the bug, an unknown number of text messages did not reach the people they were intended for. According to ReCode, the problem has been going on since the introduction of iMessage in iOS 5 in October 2011. An American woman sued Apple last week because of the bug. She says she missed countless messages after she switched to Android.

Apple officially acknowledged the problem in a statement to ReCode on Wednesday and said it is working on a solution. The company is said to have recently made a change to its iMessage servers and is currently working on an additional fix in an upcoming software update. It is not clear what exactly has been changed.

Before there is a definitive fix for the bug, users affected by the issue can disable iMessage via settings and then remove the phone number from all Apple devices. However, this solution does not always work properly. It is unknown when the fix for the bug will be available.