Apple posts a fix for iPhone 1.1.3 SMS ordering problem

We'd heard that the iPhone 1.1.3 update was causing major problems with SMS message order, but a new support doc up on Apple's site points to a relatively simple fix: turning on automatic date / time updates. Apparently the problem is caused when the internal clock doesn't match up to the carrier clock -- which seems like it'll be a continuing annoyance for frequent travelers, so hopefully a better solution is in the works.

[Thanks, Dan]

[Dylan K @ Jan 29th 2008 5:00PM]

Coming to dinner yo?

[nerdtalker @ Jan 29th 2008 6:29PM]

Hey dude sup?

(who replies to "coming to dinner yo'" with "hey dude sup?" anyways?)

[Moorio @ Jan 29th 2008 6:59PM]

Well, we know who didn't read the article...

[spflink @ Jan 29th 2008 5:01PM]

Mine is on and I still have this issue.... :(

[Tom B @ Jan 29th 2008 5:58PM]

same here... mine is always on auto update and I can't shake the problem. It's a minor thing, but REALLY annoying.... more annoying than I thought it would be when I first heard about it.

[brendan @ Jan 29th 2008 8:57PM]

me too, I have always had it on, and I still have problems.

[Bill Brasky @ Jan 30th 2008 10:21AM]

Yep, I've always had this on too. I like how they say that you may still see the problem if you send messages back and forth quickly. "Quickly" meaning like, less than a minute? I wonder why they stopped appending to the list messages in order received? Maybe when you get a batch after your phone being off?

[Kiwi616 @ Jan 29th 2008 5:02PM]

This "fix" was posted a couple of days ago...but for me this is not a fix, but a hold out until AT&T can time stamp all SMS messages accordingly.

[Jagster @ Jan 29th 2008 5:08PM]

Why can't the iphone just put them in the order in which they come in? Is that too easy?

[Khris @ Jan 29th 2008 5:22PM]

Apple has a hard time dealing with "Easy".

They're so used to taking Difficult and making it Easy, they get caught off guard when the solution is already Easy!

[crow610 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:12PM]

JUST HIT THE EASY BUTTON!

[paul34 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:46PM]

occasionally reception or network issues can result in significantly delayed message delivery.

However, I agree, it should still arrive in order anyway.

[Scott McLeod @ Jan 29th 2008 9:17PM]

That was easy.

[Jubei @ Jan 29th 2008 5:12PM]

As a frequent traveller, Set Automatically and Time Zone support feature is a must. Time s/b set on so that your appointments will change accordingly to your zone on the iPhone calendar.

[Khris @ Jan 29th 2008 5:12PM]

Here's a lovely Apple Band-aid! Isn't it pretty? Just ignore what's underneath. Isn't it pretty? Look, a lovely Apple Band-aid!! Just ignore what's underneath. Isn't it pretty?

[Anoldcarsnickname @ Jan 29th 2008 5:36PM]

Here's some bitch whining about a company he dislikes for no good reason. Ain't it pretty?

Apple is trying to give a temporary solution until they release a new firmware and you come bitching about it? God, you're just as bad as those Apple lovers. I just hope you're 12 or something, atleast that would justify your comments.

[Khris @ Jan 29th 2008 6:13PM]

Who said I disliked Apple? I just love it when people make up facts to help their own lame ass point.

[Canadian Bacon @ Jan 29th 2008 5:14PM]

How about a "fix" that alleviates the problem of having to erase everything on your phone whenever you want to transfer stuff from a different computer?

[Bassir @ Jan 29th 2008 5:14PM]

I don't use SMS, I find it overpriced.

[james @ Jan 29th 2008 5:16PM]

AMEN! (I'm still appalled at the price, but I do use it. I'm an idiot sometimes, though).

[Bassir @ Jan 29th 2008 5:19PM]

I only use it when completely necessary.

[yoyodude64 @ Jan 29th 2008 5:16PM]

to canadian bacon:
all ipods are like that, so think of it like an ipod issue. but i agree its kinda stupid

[ed @ Jan 29th 2008 5:16PM]

That's all very well and good, but O2UK doesn't seem to support this.

I don't suffer from the issue often, but it's bloody annoying when it does happen.

[w00t @ Jan 29th 2008 7:49PM]

This is easily avoided by manually managing songs on the iPod. Then you can copy songs off any computer you like without losing anything.

Obviously transfers in the other directions are not possible, but you can play the songs whilst it's still connected.

[Ben @ Jan 29th 2008 5:18PM]

this doesn't work, mine has been on the whole time and I still have this issue. anyone else having a double e-mail issue where it says you have 2 emails when you have 1, 4 when you have 2 etc?

[Bryan @ Jan 29th 2008 5:18PM]

I'm assuming that I have the correct setting here, Settings -> General -> Date&Time -> Set Automatically, which is in the on position. I'm still having the issue.

And this is from me not knowing here, but after the SMS is sent out or in, why does the server time matter? For instance, if I receive one at 01:01:01, and send one out at 01:01:31. Why then would a difference in my phone and the server time matter to these messages? Would it not make sense to sort the messages based off the phone time?

I guess the big question for me would be whether the server got the message instead of what time it did.

Is knowing the exact time that your message got to the server and then bounced a big deal for many people?

[T-Bone @ Jan 29th 2008 5:19PM]

Yep. I thought,"That's easy, I'll do that right now. Oh wait, it is already turned on."

[Powda_P @ Jan 29th 2008 5:30PM]

Didnt work for me, mine was already set to on.

[Constable Odo @ Jan 29th 2008 6:11PM]

What's this? People are having issues with the iPhone? Did you all read the manual?

[nikster @ Jan 29th 2008 6:13PM]

Official Apple iPhone users don't travel. They stay in the country where they purchased their original iPhone and 2 year contract.

Relying on the carrier time and/or carrier time sync just shows how little Apple engineers know about GSM. Carrier time sync simply doesn't work in many countries. I am sure they'll fix it in 1.4

Come to think of it, this would be a showstopper bug for me. I use SMS all the time, and carrier sync doesn't work here.

[Reid @ Jan 29th 2008 7:52PM]

Welcome to America, home of CDMA. We're used to our phones not working when we travel. And anyway, nobody really wants to pay horrific roaming surcharges while in Europe just to pay horrific overseas L/D rates to call the cafe next door to where you're standing.

Personally, it's only a very minor inconvenience. I could use my iPhone on foreign networks if I wanted to pay extra, but I'd probably just unlock it and use a local SIM, as I have in the past with other phones I've owned. And anyway, I have other GSM phones lying around that I can take with me if I prefer.

What I don't get is why Engadget seems to think syncing your phone with carrier time is a "poor fix" and an annoyance for frequent travelers. That seems like the right way of doing it.

Now, my phone is set to sync to carrier time (which I think is the default), and I've never had this problem. But from other comments here that does not appear to fix the issue. Still not sure why Engadget would call it a poor, annoying solution (if it, in fact, solved the problem).

as for nikster

[nikster @ Jan 29th 2008 8:10PM]

1 - Given that the official "fix" is carrier sync, they did something that relies on carrier time, and that's naive. Doesn't work on many networks.

2 - By official use I mean locked, complete with horrendous roaming charges. Apple doesn't want you to unlock it so you could, say, pop in a cheapo $5 SIM in your destination country. Even though that's the by far most convenient use of a cell phone overseas. Another naive mistake - I bet they just didn't know how popular this method is. Everyone I know uses it.

3 - I shouldn't post before coffee.

[Nigel Holderby @ Jan 29th 2008 6:26PM]

I've had that setting on since I got the iPhone last year, and have still had this problem since 1.1.3. That's a pretty lame fix for an issue that wasn't present before 1.1.3.

[kjb434 @ Jan 29th 2008 6:27PM]

And this is such a simple "easy" task to make ok.

I think pretty much every other phone out on the market from the cheapy free ones to the expensive WM5 and WM6 phones can do this correctly.

[nikster @ Jan 29th 2008 8:12PM]

Consider that Apple is new to the phone market. OS X has never been on a phone before. As fantastic as its possibilities are, there's bound to be bugs. Even trivial ones that others have figured out a long time ago. It's all new to OS X.

[Pavan @ Jan 29th 2008 10:55PM]

Sorry, new isn't an excuse. $399 != a product in beta

[computer.dude.28 @ Jan 29th 2008 6:38PM]

If they want to actually fix this they'll have to make both incoming and outgoing texts go by either the carrier clock or the phone clock. Not, as it seems they do now, one goes by the carrier, and the other goes by the phone.

[bjtrumps @ Jan 29th 2008 6:51PM]

The only way i could "fix" this problem was to set my iPhone to the atomic time at www.time.gov. Haven't had the problem since!

[Nubaeus @ Jan 29th 2008 6:53PM]

...but I thought Mac stuff just works?

[Big Ed @ Jan 29th 2008 11:51PM]

This isn't even a Mac.

[matt @ Jan 29th 2008 7:00PM]

if its just the times are wrong then surely its just a coincidence that this has only started happening since 1.1.3?

[Steven Haskayne @ Jan 29th 2008 7:44PM]

I cant say i've had a problem with SMS to be honest. It seems to work fine here in UK. Oh and 02 has just tripled our tarriffs so for the same money i now get 600 mins and 500 texts and unlimited wifi at the UK's largest wifi network. (macdonalds also offer free wifi here too for iphone and ipod touch users)

Finally UK starting to have some perks!!

[w00t @ Jan 29th 2008 8:06PM]

It's great that o2 have reduced the price. I was on 600 minutes before I got one, but I had a Blackberry with the unlimited data option so I was still paying £45 just like the old iPhone tariff (Although I did also have rollover and long weekends, both lost)

I spoke to o2 and they said I can downgrade, so once you factor in the data it seems iPhone users are finally getting a good deal compared to their other tariffs. Possibly slightly better!

[fhlh @ Jan 29th 2008 8:25PM]

what is this? An apple product with issues... say it isn't so..

[anonymous @ Jan 29th 2008 9:06PM]

"...and in some cases, you may not see this option)."

lol. I love that line of the help dock. "and in some cases, you might be screwed either way."

[Pavan @ Jan 29th 2008 10:59PM]

So how about people that set their clocks x-minutes fast? It may seem trivial, but that really helps me stay on time.

I suppose, staying true to Apple's 100% disclosure through advertising, they're going to come up with one of those "I'm a mac...and I'm a PC" commercials, but with all of the actors' lines in a messed up order.

[Shmapple @ Jan 30th 2008 1:36AM]

Apple, it just works.

[IpHoNeDoUt @ Apr 3rd 2008 5:53PM]

im glad i got rid of my iphone. I had it for 2 weeks hacked it unlocked it, and all the other great things. N it still sucked (without the hacks) lol so i UPGRADED to a TILT and i must say im alot more excited about my phone that accepts pictures lol haha sorry iphone lovers!