What does it mean when iMessage doesn’t say delivered?
It’s probably happened at least once that your iPhone doesn’t send you a notification that your message has been sent. This can be frustrating considering that we are used to modern technology working fast today, so we expect it to happen right now and at this moment. Don’t forget, at the end of the day these are machines that can also have errors sometimes. If iMessage doesn’t say „Delivered“, your message hasn’t been sent successfully and there are several potential reasons for it:
- Maybe your message was filtered out and flagged as Spam because of, for example, suspicious links (especially short ones), a lot of messages with the same content, too long messages, or using caps lock.
- Type of phone number can also be the reason. There are two messaging types and sometimes your iMessage can’t be delivered because you’re using A2P messaging (application-to-person). On the other hand, there are P2P (person-to-person) messaging and we use this way when we text with friends. These two types require different phone numbers, so a potential problem can happen if you’re sending a lot of messages in a really short period. That’s how your iMessages can be blocked.
- You can be opted out if someone texts „STOP“. In that case, other people won’t be able to receive your messages.
- Also, your phone number can be blocked, so there aren’t any confirmatory notifications such as „Delivered“ or „Read“.
- You should be careful what you’re sending in iMessages because any illegal content can be blocked too. So make sure you don’t use words that refer to drugs, criminal activities, etc.
- If you’re texting a landline, there definitely won’t be delivering notification. Guess what… There are still phones that don’t support modern ways of communication.
- There can be a problem with the recipient’s carrier network, so the message can’t be delivered.
- Billing problem isn’t that usual, but it can happen that you’re texting someone with a pre-paid plan who didn’t pay for it.
- The phone number you wanted to text was wrong. Believe, it happens a lot, so make sure you entered the right one.
Don’t forget, iMessage only works if you’re texting someone who uses iPhone. This is a specific way of communication only for Apple users.
Also, it’s important to clear out the difference between the „Delivered“ and „Read“ message. A delivered message is sent from your device to another. This means that on your side everything went as it should, without any problems. On the other hand, a read message is opened by the person to whom it is sent. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person read the message, but they certainly opened it, which was registered as read by the device.
With these types of send success notifications, iPhone users can see more information about the conversation. It’s been scientifically proven that people are often intolerant of uncertainty. Therefore, any possible information can contribute to reducing it. This is why these kinds of mobile phone features are attractive to users.
What to do when iMessage doesn’t say delivered?
Sometimes it can happen that iMessage can’t be sent even though the phone number you’re sending to is valid and active. In that case, you can’t get a “Delivered” receipt, so you should try a few things that might fix the cause of the problem. This is what you can do when iMessage doesn’t say delivered:
- iMessage works via the internet, so the basic requirement is a Wifi or cellular data. Therefore, if you notice that the iMessage doesn’t want to be sent, the first thing you should do is to check your internet connection, maybe that is the problem.
- The problem with sending messages from one iPhone to another may result from some kind of bug in iMessage. In that case, turn the iMessage off and on again. You can do this by going into Settings on your iPhone, then finding Messages, and then turning iMessage off and back on.
- It may happen that the person you want to contact doesn’t use an Apple device and therefore you can’t receive a notification that the message has been delivered. In that case, you can send a regular SMS. So, once again, iMessages work exclusively between two iPhones.
- Sometimes it’s enough to restart the iPhone to solve any problem, including difficulties with sending iMessages. It’s very important to remember that this is artificial intelligence with certain limitations.
iMessage doesn’t say delivered but they respond
In very rare cases it may happen that the iMessage was sent, that you even received a reply, but the “Delivered” receipt never showed. There may be a bug on your mobile device, so try some of the tricks we suggested earlier. The only thing that can be set on the iPhone is the “Read” receipt. You receive a notification about the delivered message by default, while you can set the “Read” receipt, i.e. turn off this option, so others can’t see if you enter the message and read it.
iMessage won’t deliver to one person
If iMessage can’t be sent to only one specific person but works normally with other phone numbers, there’s a chance that the problem is “on the other end of the wire”. It may happen that the other person has lost internet connection, switched off their iPhone, or set “Do not disturb” mode. Therefore, they are no longer able to receive and send iMessages, because internet access is disabled for some reason.
You can also try to call this person and see if you will get a user busy message on your iPhone. If you can’t sent them message or call them, you should check if you got blocked by this person.
Conclusion
Although Apple is the leader when it comes to the quality and popularity of mobile devices, we must be aware that at the end of the day it’s still a technology that is not perfect. Every machine has bugs that make it difficult or impossible to work and function. Sometimes you just need to refresh your mobile phone and restart it. When it comes to iMessages, this internal way of communication between iPhone users usually facilitates and enables easier conversation through messages.
The message delivery notification also makes texting easier and provides more information about the success of sending. You can activate iPhone delivery SMS report on your phone. However, sometimes the “Delivered” receipt may be not displayed after you send the message. In most cases, it’s up to the Internet. If the receiver’s wifi or cellular data is weak or disabled, you can’t receive a notification about the success of the sending. So be patient and try all the above ways to solve the problem. There is always a solution, you just need to know what to do in this situation. Of course, you can always consult the Apple support team and ask them for help as well.