Apple details potential fix for mis-ordered iPhone SMS messages

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc. has responded to complaints from customers who say the recent iPhone 1.1.3 software update has caused their handsets to display text messages out of the order in which they were sent or received.

A lengthy Apple Support discussion thread with over 11,000 views and 200 replies has been active on the matter since the firmware update was first made available to iPhone owners following Steve Jobs's Macworld keynote on January 15th.

"Ever since the 1.1.3 update for the iPhone the SMS application seems to be disordering text messages if you exit and then return to the [SMS] application," one AppleInsider reader explained in an email.

Although the vast majority of affected users appear to be using iPhones on O2's wireless network in the UK, the ongoing discussion thread suggests the problem is not limited to a specific carrier.

For its part, Apple last week posted a support article on the matter, explaining that the issue can occur if an iPhone is not displaying the same date and time setting as its carrier network.

The company advises users to make sure their iPhones are setup to receive the network time automatically from their wireless carriers. To do this, users must choose General > Date & Time and turn Set Automatically to ON.

Apple notes, however, that in some locations, network time may not be available and in some cases, users may not see this option. It also admits that the issue may persist for some users even after turning on time synching.

"The issue may be occurring because messages are being sent in quick succession (more common if the messages consist of only a few short words)," the company said.

At least one customer contacting Apple Care support over the matter was told that a definitive fix -- presumably through a successive software update -- was in the works.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[thedonga]

General > Date & Time and turn Set Automatically to ON.

this does not fix the issue

[Xaositek]

I found this is only an issue on my AT&T Locked (Unhacked) iPhone when an SMS message is received and a reply is sent within the same minute of time, they get reversed when I jump to the Springboard and come back.

Length of the message doesn't seem to matter as long as its within the same minute.

[neondiet]

Well myself and my wife both have iPhones on O2's UK network, and we've not seen this SMS issue at all so far.

However, when I try and use the Google Maps locate feature from home, all I get is a pale blue screen. Several pinch zoom outs later, I discover that I'm not actually located in the south of England where I assumed I am, but am in fact in the Arctic Ocean, somewhere north west of Canada.

Who knew

[nmcphers]

Originally Posted by neondiet

Well myself and my wife both have iPhones on O2's UK network, and we've not seen this SMS issue at all so far.

However, when I try and use the Google Maps locate feature from home, all I get is a pale blue screen. Several pinch zoom outs later, I discover that I'm not actually located in the south of England where I assumed I am, but am in fact in the Arctic Ocean, somewhere north west of Canada.

Who knew

Same difference. Both locations are the middle of nowhere. Just kidding.

[EmAn]

For me on at&t when I was home in New York I constantly had this problem but when I got back to school in Connecticut the issue stopped and texts have been displayed perfectly. Just a weird observation...

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"The issue may be occurring because messages are being sent in quick succession (more common if the messages consist of only a few short words)," the company said.

So we become Star Wars "Yoda"?

...and 'How r u, my old friend'

becomes... "u r how, my friend old"

[StuBeck]

Originally Posted by thedonga

this does not fix the issue

I don't know how O2 is, but Orange doesn't even have this feature on their mobiles. you have to manually set the time.

[dontlookleft]

id be pissed if i paid about 6 trillion dollars for a phone and one of it's main functions got f'd with an update.


good luck to all you iPhone users.

[markaceto]

So, Apple says that, despite upgrading my firmware, my phone will coincidentally behave differently because I'm suddenly "sending messages in quick succession"? And, yeah, Date & Time have always been Set Automatically to On.

Seriously, do they think we're f'ing retarded?

[elroth]

Originally Posted by neondiet

Well myself and my wife both have iPhones on O2's UK network, and we've not seen this SMS issue at all so far.

However, when I try and use the Google Maps locate feature from home, all I get is a pale blue screen. Several pinch zoom outs later, I discover that I'm not actually located in the south of England where I assumed I am, but am in fact in the Arctic Ocean, somewhere north west of Canada.

Who knew

I'm impressed - nobody mentioned that the iPhone can beam you from place to place. Is it a tricorder too?

[physguy]

Originally Posted by markaceto

So, Apple says that, despite upgrading my firmware, my phone will coincidentally behave differently because I'm suddenly "sending messages in quick succession"? And, yeah, Date & Time have always been Set Automatically to On.

Seriously, do they think we're f'ing retarded?

FWIW their explanation can certainly make sense if they changed the sorting of the messages from something like message ID to time sent especially if they're using Core data or some version of sqllite

Old case (possible);

Each message carried an successive id number 1,2,3. Sorting by id number works just fine.

New case (possible)

Each message carries a time, down to the minute. Sorting by time works fine unless two are within the same minute, then some other criteria must be used to complete the sort. If they choose, or the default is, alphabetic then the resulting display could be inverted, but maybe not depending on message content.