text messages to iphones that are switched off

[hairymonster]

I cant really ask outside of our little community, perhaps someone here could shed some light?

I have an old iphone, an 8 I think for punting and I do some adult photography too so its my hobby phone. Its off far more than its on and I have assumed that any texts sent to it will appear when it switches on.

I sent contacts too it a few times by text, usually when its on. A few weeks back I sent a message while it was off and didnt switch it on for a week or so. When I did there was no message. A few minutes panicking that I had sent a full description of a shoot to a random contact in my normal phone later, I could see it was sent to the right phone, but did not come through or flag a failed message . I re sent the message and it came through.

A month or two later I had the same issue.

In the good old Nokia days, texts would always make it through when the phone powered up, have things moved on? I dont have any imessage settings enabled on either device and the punting phone has all data switched off, but I do tag it to another one for data when its on.

Most comms these days end up on whatsapp, but texts are still common.

[RandomGuy99]

If your iPhone was switched off and you didn't receive a text message that was sent during that time, here are a few possible reasons:

### 1. **Type of Message Sent**
- **iMessage**: If the sender used iMessage (blue bubble) and your iPhone was off or without internet (Wi-Fi or data), the message might not have been delivered until your phone came online.
  - If iMessage failed and didn’t fall back to SMS (green bubble), the message would stay undelivered.
- **SMS/MMS**: Regular SMS should queue on the carrier's network and deliver once your phone is turned back on—*unless*:
  - The sender's phone failed to send.
  - Your carrier has a short queue time and the message expired.

### 2. **Airplane Mode or No Signal**
Even after powering on, if your iPhone doesn’t connect to the network immediately (e.g. no signal, Airplane mode), messages won't arrive until it's back online.

### 3. **Blocked Number**
If the sender is blocked on your iPhone, you won’t receive messages from them—even after restarting.

### 4. **SIM or Carrier Issues**
If your SIM card was removed, damaged, or there’s a network issue, messages may not get through.

### 5. **Delayed Sync with iMessage**
Sometimes iMessage takes a few moments to sync messages across devices or may get stuck until you reconnect to a stable network.

---

**Quick checks you can do now:**
- Confirm the sender used SMS if you were completely offline.
- Ask if they got a "Delivered" or "Not Delivered" indicator.
- Check Settings > Messages to make sure iMessage is working and properly set up.

[Strawberry]

I cant really ask outside of our little community, perhaps someone here could shed some light?

I have an old iphone, an 8 I think for punting and I do some adult photography too so its my hobby phone. Its off far more than its on and I have assumed that any texts sent to it will appear when it switches on.

I sent contacts too it a few times by text, usually when its on. A few weeks back I sent a message while it was off and didnt switch it on for a week or so. When I did there was no message. A few minutes panicking that I had sent a full description of a shoot to a random contact in my normal phone later, I could see it was sent to the right phone, but did not come through or flag a failed message . I re sent the message and it came through.

A month or two later I had the same issue.

In the good old Nokia days, texts would always make it through when the phone powered up, have things moved on? I dont have any imessage settings enabled on either device and the punting phone has all data switched off, but I do tag it to another one for data when its on.

Most comms these days end up on whatsapp, but texts are still common.

I have never used an iphone, I have since 1998 worked my way through Nokia, Blackberry, various Android phones.

In the old days delivery of SMS texts would be attempted for 72 hours, if not delivered in this time the text would never be delivered. I received this answer in 2002 when questioning my mobile network provider about delays and missing texts sent to me by a friend. This was then consistently my experience when away on holiday working phone switched off - sms texts sent more than 72 hours before I turned the phone back are never received.

I do not know if this still stands because since 2019 I haven't had my daily use phone turned off for more than perhaps 24 hours at a time, but it certainly was the case up until 2019.

[RandomGuy99]

I have never used an iphone, I have since 1998 worked my way through Nokia, Blackberry, various Android phones.

In the old days delivery of SMS texts would be attempted for 72 hours, if not delivered in this time the text would never be delivered. I received this answer in 2002 when questioning my mobile network provider about delays and missing texts sent to me by a friend. This was then consistently my experience when away on holiday working phone switched off - sms texts sent more than 72 hours before I turned the phone back are never received.

I do not know if this still stands because since 2019 I haven't had my daily use phone turned off for more than perhaps 24 hours at a time, but it certainly was the case up until 2019.

I think it still.stands for SMS, otherwise the message queues at the cell towers would fill up.

[RandomGuy99]

In the UK, mobile network operators typically attempt to deliver SMS messages for a period ranging from **7 to 14 days**. If the message remains undelivered within this timeframe, it is marked as **expired** and discarded.

### 📱 Delivery Attempts and Expiry Times

- **O2**:Community discussions suggest that O2 attempts to deliver SMS messages for up to **14 days** citeturn0search1

- **EE**:EE's community support indicates that SMS messages are queued for delivery as long as the SIM remains active. However, the sender can set a validity period, which may be shorter than the network's default, leading to message expiry if undelivered within that period citeturn0search6

- **General Industry Practice**:SMS providers like The SMS Works report that networks often attempt delivery for up to **48 hours**, but this can vary depending on the operator and the sender's settings citeturn0search3

### ⏳ Factors Influencing Message Expiry

- **Phone Status**:If your phone is off or in airplane mode, the network will queue the message for delivery. However, if the phone remains unavailable beyond the operator's expiry period, the message will expire

- **Signal Availability**:In areas with poor or no signal, the network may not be able to deliver the message, leading to expiry if the signal issue persists beyond the expiry period

- **Sender Settings**:The sender can specify a validity period for the message. If this period is shorter than the network's default, the message may expire before the network attempts delivery

### ✅ Recommendations

- **Check Sender Settings**:If you anticipate being unavailable, ensure that the sender sets a longer validity period for the SMS

- **Contact Your Network Provider**:If you frequently experience issues with undelivered messages, consider reaching out to your network provider for assistance

- **Monitor Phone Status**:Keep your phone turned on and connected to the network to ensure timely delivery of messages

[Waterhouse]

Strawberry has hit the nail on the head.

Mobile carriers i.e. Voda, 3, O2 etc. only store SMS messages on their network for three days, at least that used to be the case - nowadays it’s between 3 and 5 days depending on the network provider. So if the message wasn’t delivered to the phone within that timeframe i.e. the phone was not connected to the mobile network for a week, then the message would be deleted from the network and just vanish into the ether.

Guessing that’s what has happened here.

[hairymonster]

Thanks guys and thanks to whoever moved the thread too.

It answers all of it. The messages were my phone to my punting phone, the messages must have simply expired.

I wonder now how many messages I have missed over the years. I have on occasion sent texts to girls and have assumed the lack of reply was just that. I may have missed more TBH I know now that I must have.

[Strawberry]

Thanks guys and thanks to whoever moved the thread too.

It answers all of it. The messages were my phone to my punting phone, the messages must have simply expired.

I wonder now how many messages I have missed over the years. I have on occasion sent texts to girls and have assumed the lack of reply was just that. I may have missed more TBH I know now that I must have.

Whenever I knew my work phone would be off for a while I would advise regulars because they would become concerned I was either shunning them, or something had happened to me if their texts or calls were not answered. Didn't stop one getting the dates mixed up, and assuming I was ignoring him - only when he looked at my website did he realise his mistake.

But yes SMS texts are not eternal.

[hairymonster]

Thanks Strawberry,
 I had a play today and tesco payg using o2 on the spare phone. Texts from just the day before when it was off didnt come through. If I sent another it would prompt them both to come through. I made some calls to it when off and they didnt show when it cam back on.
 How times have changed...