We recently reported about an iPhone issue in which your iMessages could keep going to the same phone even after it’s wiped, and it looks like there may be a simple solution: Put a password on your SIM card.
To recap, here’s the problem: A used or stolen iPhone can continue to receive iMessages that should go to the original owner. Whether you reset, wipe, swap the SIM card, set the old SIM card on fire and throw it into the Grand Canyon… nothing seems to help. Well, nothing except Jesse Hollington’s advice.
Jesse Hollington shed a lot of light on what’s happening there with this post on Google+ (side note: Nice to see Google+ finally being used for something you won’t find in 100 other places). This is a very in-depth but interesting read that I highly recommend for iPhone users, but if you just want the punchline then it’s simple: Put a passcode on your SIM card. Hit settings, select “phone” and change your PIN. Macworld has a little extra word of assistance that you should heed:
But here’s the rub: It’s not asking for your new PIN; rather, you’re being prompted to provide your current pin. If you haven’t set one yet, you need to know your carrier’s default PIN. If you’re on AT&T or Bell Canada, it’s 1111. If you use Sprint, it’s 0000. For Rogers Wireless, it’s 1234.
It’s important to note that Hollington is offering an educated guess, but not an official diagnostic. He explains various causes that he can think of for the issue, but is careful not to make it sound as if he’s got all the answers. Be sure to read, talk to your carrier if you need to, and get that problem fixed before your best friend sends you a pic along with the message “Dude, remember this pic of you streaking from last year?”
Source: Jesse Hollington, Macworld
