these days, almost every text that I send gives me the error Message: message could not be delivered. But, the message actually sends. I don’t have to do it again. This seemed to start happening when I updated to iOS 18. Has anyone else experienced this?
Comments
Some suggestions and questions
Have you tried restarting your device(s), signing out of and back into iMessage, or turning iMessage off and on again? Those would be my initial suggestions for resolving this issue.
Looking more closely, does this issue appear to be limited to one device, or does it affect multiple devices signed into your Apple Account? Also, have you found that this issue occurs with iMessage, RCS, SMS/MMS, or all or some of the above? This information could help determine the cause and scope of the issue.
HTH
answers to questions
I only have one device on this account. I have restarted the phone for other reasons in the last few weeks, and that didn’t seem to help the message problem. I haven’t specifically paid attention to which type of message has trouble. Off the top of my head, I would say RCS and SMS. but I’m not positive.
As an addendum to the above post
I'd also recommend trying to text both with, and without, RCS enabled.
HTH.
This has been an ongoing problem with me for several years
I’ve experienced this problem for several years now. I have noticed that if I begin a new message with Siri with someone who is a non-iPhone user I get the exact same issue that you are experienced. However, if there has already been a string of messages established in the messages app with a person with a non-iPhone the problem does not exist
Disable MMS
For reasons, Apple uses MMS instead of perfectly serviceable concatenated SMS. If you find this happening particularly when you send long texts and you've no use for MMS, turn it off for a more reliable texting experience. It also helps that MMS are often an extra charge, where texting isn't.
Good luck.