How to fix iPhone not sending text to Android after iOS 18 update

• If your iPhone isn’t sending text messages to Android users after iOS 18 update, ensure that your iPhone is configured to send SMS.
• Check that the Android’s phone number isn’t registered on Apple’s iMessage system.
• Turning your iPhone off and back on again can usually refresh the software and restore better signal connections, enabling your messages to send once again.

Sending and receiving text messages is one of the convenient ways for iPhone and android users to communicate between each other. But what if your iPhone isn’t sending text messages to android users after iOS 18 update? Don’t worry, we’ll help you fix the problem.

Here are twelve ways to troubleshoot if your iPhone isn’t sending texts to Android phones after iOS 18 update.

12 ways to troubleshoot if your iPhone isn’t sending texts to Android after iOS 18 update

Follow these troubleshooting steps, testing after each step:

Make sure that you are texting the correct phone number

The first thing you should do is to confirm that you are texting the right number. If you entered the number wrong or the intended Android user now has a new number, you may be prevented from sending the text.

Check for a carrier settings update

Updating carrier settings is another troubleshooting step that can help you fix the problem if your iPhone won’t send text to android after iOS 18 update. Here’s how:

1. Make sure your iPhone is connected to the Internet.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap General.
4. Tap about.
5. Tap Update.

Update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS 18

Your iPhone might not be able to send texts to Android phones because of a bug in your current iOS 18 software . Updating your iPhone to the latest iOS 18 version may potentially fix this problem, so see if there are any pending updates that need to be installed. Here’s how:

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Software update.
4. Tap Update Now.

Try to send textss in another location

Because Android and iOS can only exchange texts via SMS, MMS, or RCS, you need a working cellular link. It’s possible that you’re in a location that has poor service hence your iPhone can’t send text. If you’re indoors, go outside, or otherwise try to move to another location and send text again.

Toggle Airplane Mode on and Off

You might be having problems texting an Android phone because there is something wrong with your cellular connection. Cellular connectivity glitches often occur after iOS updates, and turning your iPhone’s Airplane Mode on and back off again can quickly resolve a temporary problem.

1. Tap Settings.
2. turn on Airplane Mode, wait five seconds, then turn it off.

Turn on Send as SMS

If "Send as SMS" is turned off on your iPhone settings, you may not be able to send text to Android users. It’s a good idea to check if is turned on.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap Messages.
4. Turn on Send as SMS.

Ask the Android owner to deregister iMessage

If the Android user you are trying to text switched from an iPhone to an Android phone, their phone number may still be in Apple’s database and registered with iMessage. So, when you attempt to text them from your iPhone, your message app will send an iMessage, which will just sit on Apple’s server–and never make it to the other user, since Android can’t process iMessages.

This could potentially also occur even if the Android user you are trying to text never had an iPhone. For example, if their phone company gives them a new phone number that was previously used by an iPhone, it could conceivably still be registered with iMessage.

To solve this problem, you just need to ask the Android user to deregister their phone number from Apple’s iMessage system by following these instructions.

Head to Apple’s Deregister and Turn Off iMessage website. Scroll down to the "No Longer Have Your iPhone?" section and enter your phone number. Apple will send a text message to your phone number. Fill in the CAPTCHA and enter the confirmation code from the text message to confirm you have access to that phone number. Apple will then remove your phone number from the iMessage system.

When you attempt to text that Android user from your iPhone now, the Messages app will see that the user is not registered in iMessage anymore, and will automatically send him or her a standard SMS message. According to Apple, it may take a few hours for this to take effect.

Restart your iPhone

Simple but effective: Reboot your iPhone. This will get rid of any temporary glitches not just in the wireless network software, but also the Messages app and various background services.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Shut down.

Check your text message credit balance

If your iPhone still won’t send messages to Android users, check your text message credit balance. If your plan runs out or you don’t have credit for sending messages, you won’t be able to text android contacts on your iPhone.

Are you blocked?

If your text messages aren’t going through to a particular Android user, it could very well be that they have blocked your number. There’s no easy way to find out since you don’t get an alert when someone has done this. However, you can try calling them to check if this is the case.

Reset your network settings

If you’ve tried all the other troubleshooting options in this list and one or more Android users aren’t getting your texts, it’s time to reset your iPhone’s network settings. It’s a good idea to save this as a last resort, because this will erase all current saved settings, including Wi-Fi passwords, preferred networks, and VPN and APN settings that you’ve used before. But if you’re ready to try this fix, it might fix your texting problem.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Tap Reset.
5. Tap Reset Network Settings.

Contact your carrier

If your iPhone still can’t send SMS messages to Android users after iOS 18 update, I recommend that you contact your carrier. When you contact your carrier, make sure that:

• Your account is set up to use your iPhone.
• There aren’t any service outage in your area.
• Your account doesn’t have a billing-related block.