iMessage: Apple faces US lawsuit over 'countless' undelivered texts to Android devices

The iPhone's iMessage system has been blamed for years for disappearing texts

Apple will face a class-action lawsuit in the US after failing to tell iPhone owners that its iMessage system might block them from receiving text messages if they switched to an Android handset.

US District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that a lawsuit filed in May this year will move forward, reports Reuters, as Apple themselves release a ‘one-click’ tool to help ex-iPhone owners de-register their number from iMessage.

iMessage is set up as the iPhone’s default messaging system and routes texts sent from iOS device to iOS device through Apple’s servers to save money on network costs.

However, if users that switch to Android phones forget to disconnect their number from iMessage properly then texts sent to their new phone can be trapped in Apple’s servers.

Ex-iPhone owners have reported problems with this system for years, with some even alleging that they lost jobs or damaged relationships because of un-read text messages.

Judge Koh has now ruled that US plaintiff Adrienne Moore has the right to try and show if Apple violated unfair competition law in California. Moore claims that iOS 5 software blocked the delivery of "countless" messages after she switched mobiles.

“[The] plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship," wrote Koh.

Apple did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment, but wrote in court papers that it “takes customer satisfaction extremely seriously."

The company added that “the law does not provide a remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should.”