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   How to Reclaim Your Phone Number from iMessage

   Josh Centers

   When it works, iMessage is one of Apple's best online services. With
   iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, it seamlessly merges SMS and instant
   messaging across all of your Apple devices, and you won't find better
   security in a mainstream messaging app. (No, really! See '[1]EFF: Apple
   Offers Best Mainstream Messaging Security,' 7 November 2014.)

   But if you decide to switch away from the iPhone to any other type of
   mobile phone that's limited to SMS messages, iMessage can become a
   Kafka-esque nightmare. That's because messages sent to your phone
   number from your Apple device'using 'blue bubble' friends would still
   go through iMessage and into the void, unless you disabled iMessage in
   Settings > Messages on your iPhone. Previously, if you forgot to
   disable iMessage before getting rid of your iPhone, you were in for
   long phone calls to Apple to try and remedy the situation.

   Apple has finally released an [2]online tool to disengage your phone
   number from iMessage (a [3]class action lawsuit might have encouraged
   its creation). Visit the page, enter your phone number to receive a
   confirmation code on your phone, then enter that code on the site.

   [4][tn_Deregister-iMessage.jpg]

   While it's good that Apple has released a tool to deregister a phone
   number from iMessage, it's infuriating that it took so long. Granted,
   Apple doesn't have much incentive to help customers switch to a
   competing platform, but to paraphrase [5]a common saying, 'If you want
   a loyal customer, let them go. If you truly make the best product, they
   will return.'

References

   1. http://tidbits.com/article/15220
   2. https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage
   3. http://mashable.com/2014/05/19/apple-imessage-lawsuit/
   4. http://tidbits.com/resources/2014-11/Deregister-iMessage.png
   5. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/08/love-set-free/

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