Apple sued over iPhone iMessage lock-in

Apple has been sued for penalising people who replace their iPhones with Android devices, who claim they cannot "obtain the full benefits of their wireless-service contracts".

Adrienne Moore replaced her iPhone with an Android-powered Samsung smartphone but found she was unable to access the iMessages she had sent and received using her iDevice.

Her friends also sent her text messages, but these didn't arrive because the senders' iPhones presumed she was still using the iPhone. This resulted in the text being sent using iMessage.

She then complained to Apple and sought class-action status and undetermined damages because the company failed to disclose the information that an Android device wouldn't work with the Apple-owned iMessage service.

iMessage was launched as part of the iOS 5 operating system in 2011 and allows iOS users to send each other SMS messages using Wi-Fi or a data connection, meaning the user won't be charged for sending text messages. The service is similar to third-party app WhatsApp, although that allows people to send messages across various mobile operating systems.

iMessage uses your mobile phone number as an identifier, meaning if you switch to a new device but keep the same number, messages sent from the iPhone user's friends will still be sent to your phone using iMessage. However, because non-iPhones don't support iMessage, they get lost and never arrive on your phone.

An Apple tech support specialist told Adam Pash, former Lifehacker editor in chief, the company is aware of the problem but "is apparently clueless as how to fix it."

Apple has been repeatedly accused of locking people into its ecosystem, most notably with its proprietary Lightning charging point and its charger/data cable connector before that. Apps are not transferrable between Apple and any other operating system either, meaning once you have an iPhone, it's hard to swap unless you're happy to let go of your apps and re-download them.