Fix For “Message Not Delivered” on iOS Devices

So I am ashamed to admit this but I have one little secret that may come as a surprise given what I know and enjoy doing.

I am behind the times.

I have been consistently behind trends for as long as I can remember. When everyone else was saying “that’s phat” I was saying “that’s the bomb!”. When everyone started holding their hair up with the claw, I was excited about having scrunchies. That is socially unacceptable enough but I am even behind the times in the tech world. Why, I am one of the few people left that doesn’t even have a smartphone!

Case in point I only just recently got an iPod Touch. Yes I know, I have joined the “sheeple”. I have my reasons!

Although I don’t love absolutely everything about it – especially since I am cheap and only bought the 8GB one – I am very satisfied with my purchase. This is partly due to the limitless number of apps available that transform the iPod into a number of other devices (alarm clock, journal, flashlight, game system and yes, even a phone).

But you can get that stuff on any smartphone or tablet PC, right?

Well, aside from not having to pay for a data plan, Apple has a few proprietary apps that are wonderful. FaceTime has amazing video quality, far superior to any other video calling all I have tried (if you know of any equal or close, be sure to share in the comments!).

Another wonderful thing I discovered is iMessage. IMessage allows you to message any other iDevice without use of another app. That means that through wifi I can send a text to a friend New Zealand as easy as I can send a text to a friend down the street.

Unless it doesn’t work.

Yesterday evening I tried sending a couple texts through iMessage. I set the iPod down after hitting “send” and went on with my day.

I came back to find “Message Not Delivered” staring at me in bright red lettering.

Ok, maybe it just lost signal for a moment. I thought. Tried sending again.

Same message.

Maybe I accidentally tried sending it to the wrong number! (In iMessage via an iPod Touch you can only send messages to other people with an iDevice, limiting you to numbers registered to an iPhone or email addresses registered to an iPod or iPad)

Tried again… Still no luck.

So I started Googling it. Many suggestions had to do with trying to check messages on an iPhone while syncing with iMessage on a Mac. Not my case since I use Windows.

Then I found it.

Go to Settings – WiFi.
Tap the blue arrow next to the connection you are using.
This pulls up the connection properties and settings.
Tap the box next to “DNS”.
Delete everything from that box.
Type the following:
8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4

Back out of the Settings and you should be good to go!! The moment I finished this on my own iPod Touch, I didn’t just receive a few backlogged iMessages, but also game notifications I didn’t know I was missing! And of course, my messages finally went through.

Oh yeah, and if you have any apps or games you want to suggest, by all means please share! And if you want to play a game with/against me – bring it on! I am too addicted not to play you.