Message Delivery Issues after iOS 18.1.1 Update

This may well be a carrier issue. iOS contained several fixes security related vulnerabilities. There are multiple community members reporting that AT&T has been able to restore texting for some customers affected by texting issues.

It’s possible that contacting your carrier may help resolve a few issues you’re experiencing.

Update: Problem solved after 3 more visits to the Verizon store techs who did the trade-in. Still glitchy issues with autocorrect (both off and on) while texting, but phone service restored, 'share location' restored, and I believe iClould has resumed updating. Techs didn't tell me what the exact issue was, but I believe it's related to the new native (non-removable) SIM 'card' that wasn't recognizing the new phone as my number. Here are some of the notifications I was receiving before the fix in case anyone else encounters the same thing:

'Cellular Plan No Longer Available Do you want to update the contacts that were using this line to use your "Primary" line?'

'Last Line No Longer Available Do you want to call using your remaining line?'

'iCloud updates paused' (with iCloud update setting ON)

I was also signed out of all apps that required passwords

Face ID did not recognize me

Could not use 'Share My Location'

Big thanks to this thread community for being here & caring!

I was struggling with this same issue for weeks since I updated to iOS 18.1 but was able to resolve it with my carrier’s (T-Mobile) customer support today. Basically they had to “reset” my network. They walked me through the settings and other things to do, and they reset my network connection on their end. This fixed this issue in an instant. So I recommend calling your carrier for support.

UPDATE: It didn't stay working, so I called apple tech support. The first two people couldn't help, one couldn't even understand the problem and the other was having her own technical problems. But then I spoke to Craig, a senior technical support advisor who was extremely patient and helpful!! He walked me through resetting numerous settings just to be extremely thorough, and this has seemed promising. It's now been over 5 days without a problem, and while I'm aware that it could come back, this is the best solution I know of.

I don't remember the exact order of steps he had me follow, but this should be pretty close.

1. I deleted the contact from my phone and all apple devices. I also permanently deleted the contact from my email account too.
2. Turned off iMessages. Also turned off messages in iCloud on all my devices.
3. Deleted, and the permanently deleted all conversations with the contact in question on all my devices.
4. Reset my network settings, and restarted all my devices.
5. There may have been one or two other small things that we did as well just in case, but I can't remember what those were. Or that may have just been seeing what my settings were.
6. Undid everything (except for deleting the conversations, those are just lost). It took a good 25 minutes for my text to re-sync to my other iCloud devices, so really hoping I don't have to go through that again.

I suddenly had messages going through as SMS rather than iMessage (which cost me as I text people abroad) - messages usually in blue turned to green. I finally worked out - go to settings - apps - messages - open “send and recieve” and under “start new conversations from” make sure your Apple account email is selected and not your phone number. Now I want Apple to reimburse me because this happened after iOS update - I had no prompt that I needed to do this and am pretty furious I’ve been charged 10 quid for “texting” my Mom when it’s always automatically gone through as iMessage.

I was having a problem similar to this, and it was very chaotic. One of my contacts got messed up where iOS would inexplicably send messages sometimes over iMessage to their email account (which it wasn't supposed to do), sometimes over RCS to their phone number (which it was supposed to do), and then sometimes over SMS, presumably when RCS would fail.

Then when I removed the email from their contact in the hopes that it would stick to RCS, but instead it divided up the messages into multiple chats, as though the email were still sometimes linked to the contact, but sometimes not. Sometimes my texts would go through, sometimes not. Sometimes I'd receive their text messages, sometimes not. Sometimes there'd be this phantom chat, or just an entire duplicate of certain parts of the conversation. Sometimes the incoming texts would appear as though they were also being sent to the email as well, even though that is definitely not the case.

I tried restarting my phone, deleting the phantom chats, deleting their contact all together, updating my phone software, but to no avail. I have my texts ported over to my MacBook and my iPad as well, and these problems existed over there too. Finally I reset my network settings, and thus far it seems to be working.

I have no idea what triggered this to happen. In the meantime I'm not adding their email to their contact in case that has something to do with it. None of this ever happened before updating to iOS 18.x and starting to text with RCS.

I know others were saying that it could be a carrier problem, not an iOS problem, but based upon my observations here and my limited understanding of RCS, I'd be more inclined to think that this was and iOS problem. Especially considering the phantom messages and the fact that now that it's fixed, my iPad conversation appears normal (the only device I didn't delete my conversation history on). But what do I know?

That’s a carrier issue. Your carrier controls texts. If you don’t have cellular reception texts don’t go. If you’re using Apple Messages and sending to another iPhone user your message can go over WiFi to the iPhone. Android users will receive a text when you have cellular connection again.

SOS APPLE!!!!! Just traded in my iPhone 11 for iPhone 16 with 18.1.1 and not getting texts, and can’t use ‘share my location’ with my sons (both iPhone users). If anyone has a fix, please share - I will be SO grateful! Went to Verizon store where they did the trade-in, they tried everything and cannot fix. Getting message ‘syncing with iCloud Paused’ since I got the phone - tried resetting, have plenty of storage left, turned on/off iMessaging - this is a HUGE issue. Missed several critical work texts, and it’s essential that I have location sharing for work. Also, can’t send texts to some contacts now that I use on a daily basis for 10 years - had to try using SMS and sketchy results. This is an urgent issue - really hope Apple deals with it ASAP! PS not having any issues with my iPad that I DID NOT UPDATE TO 18.1.1 so this is definitely a software glitch.

My Short message code messaging is RESOLVED! Had to put phone in airplane mode during 3 hr flight and 22 messages arrived when I turned AirPlaneMode off. Maybe coincidence but thankful it’s working.

It's not always the iOS update's fault!  Many things can cause phone problems.  If you tell people you think it's an iOS update, it might make it harder to fix or find a solution for the real issue.

Remember, the right question often leads to the solution!

iOS updates aim to enhance user experience, boost security, and fix bugs rather than disrupt core features. The majority of the issues after updates might stem from underlying, unmentioned factors. Updates won't typically alter personal data but may refine settings or features. Backup before major updates for safety. Review Apple's update details and backup advice for a smooth process.

Kindly consider checking your settings and addressing any device issues before attributing the issue to external factors. This could be a pure coincidence that the iOS update affected the iPhone functions.

Before initiating a standard iOS update, it's advisable to create a backup. Have you completed this step? If yes, proceed with the restoration from the backup.

See what each update does: About iOS 18 Updates, About iOS 17 Updates, About iOS 16 Updates, About iOS 15 Updates, About iOS 14 Updates, About iOS 13 Updates, About iOS 12 Updates, and so on...

Short message code messaging?? Yes, this is an 18.1.1 update problem. Please please submit to Apple Support even if you’ve spoken to a tech. I did this yesterday after 2 days of no solution for no short message code messaging. I spoke with my carrier, my financial institutions and Apple. With 2step verifications, it’s a nightmare getting into accounts when you can’t receive the code!! FYI, my husband’s phone is older model with iOS 16, same carrier, same plan, same sim and he still receives short messages.

Have you found a fix for this? I’m haveing the exact same issue! I deleted all email addresses from my wife’s contact then attempted to message her number and it tries creating a new message string and keeps acting like it’s sending but doesn’t. Then you look in the normal string and it’s there and sent, but the normal string is listed under her email.

We both have IMessages set to send and receive from only our phone number.

I have had all of these issues occur plus my phone now will not connect to CarPlay in my 2023 Outback and couldn’t send emails from my work email. I also use my phone as a life-sustaining medical device (CGM). I spent a total of 5 hours on phone and two separate 2.5 hour visits to the Apple Store for techs to work on it. The last one said simply to delete my Apple account and that’s the best he could suggest, then walked on to other customers as I’m near tears. So I await my new phone from not Apple for the first time since I bought the very first iPhone. iOS 18 never should have been released this unstable.

This has been happening to me. Had an iPhone 12 Pro with the text messages issue, decided to update my phone on cyber Monday, the iPhone 16 pro came in and I set it up and now I’m having the same issues. It’s definitely not my area or signal or carrier because my iPhone 12 worked like a dream prior to this update. Also, my new phone is having the same issues so… ??? Make it make sense.