Troubleshooting

Beginner

4 min read 8 stepsApril 20, 2026Verified April 2026

Texts Not Sending? How to Fix iPhone and Android Messaging

When your text messages get stuck on "Sending..." or fail to deliver, here are the quick fixes for iPhone and Android.

At a Glance

Figure out which type of message is failing

~18s

On iPhone: blue bubbles = iMessage (needs internet); green bubbles = SMS (needs cellular). On Android: bubbles with lock icons or rich features = RCS (needs internet); plain bubbles = SMS. Look at which kind of message is stuck. This tells you whether to check internet or cell signal.

Check cellular signal and data

~23s

Look at the top of your screen for bars or "5G", "LTE", "4G" labels. No signal = no SMS sending. If you are indoors or underground, go outside to test. If mobile data is off (SettingsCellular/Mobile Data), iMessage and RCS cannot send even with wi-fi off. Also check if you are over your data plan limit — some carriers throttle or block messaging once you hit the cap.

Toggle airplane mode off and on

~20s

This is the classic fix that works surprisingly often. Open Control Center (iPhone: swipe down from top-right corner. Android: swipe down from the top of the screen). Tap the airplane icon to turn airplane mode ON. Wait 10 seconds. Tap again to turn it OFF. Wait another 10 seconds for the phone to reconnect. Then try sending the message.

Toggle iMessage off and on (iPhone)

~16s

If blue-bubble messages are failing: SettingsMessages → iMessage → turn OFF. Wait 30 seconds. Turn back ON. It may take up to 5 minutes to re-register. During this time blue bubbles will temporarily send as green (SMS). Once "Activated" appears, iMessage is working again.

Check the recipient's number and status

~19s

If you cannot text only ONE specific person, the issue is probably their end. Verify the number is right (some people have two numbers, or you might be texting a landline). If they recently switched from iPhone to Android and their number shows as blue on your phone, ask them to deregister iMessage at selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage.

Restart the phone

~15s

Old reliable fix. Power off completely and power back on. This resets network connections, clears temporary glitches in the Messages app, and re-authenticates with iMessage and your carrier. If it has been more than a few days since you restarted, this alone fixes many messaging issues.

Check RCS settings on Android

~18s

Open Google Messages → tap your profile icon → Messages settingsRCS chats. Check that RCS (or "Chat features") is turned on. Verify "Status" says "Connected". If it is stuck on "Setting up" or "Unavailable", toggle it off and on, confirm your phone number is verified, and restart the phone.

Contact your carrier if nothing works

~20s

If all your texts (SMS) are failing, not just iMessage, the issue may be with your carrier account. Sign in to your carrier app (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) to check if your account is active and your line is not suspended. Sometimes a billing issue or a security block on the account causes all messaging to fail silently.

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When texts stop sending or delivering, it falls into one of two categories on either phone. On iPhone: either iMessage (blue bubbles) is failing, or SMS (green bubbles) is failing. These are completely different systems — iMessage needs internet and works between Apple devices, while SMS uses your cellular carrier and works with any phone. On Android, the same split exists: RCS (the modern rich messaging, similar to iMessage) needs internet, and SMS is the cellular fallback. Knowing which kind of message is failing points you to the fix.

If only iMessage is failing (blue bubbles not sending, green bubbles work): the issue is internet or Apple's iMessage service. Turn iMessage off and back on in Settings → Messages. Check that your phone has a working internet connection. Check status.apple.com/systemstatus for an iMessage outage. If only SMS fails (green bubbles stuck sending): the issue is your cell carrier. Check signal strength, restart the phone, and try switching airplane mode on and off. If both fail entirely, it is almost certainly a carrier or phone signal issue.

Specific situations to watch for: if a contact who used to have an iPhone recently switched to Android, but their texts still show as blue on your phone and fail to deliver, they may not have turned off iMessage before switching — send them a link to selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage. If you cannot text one specific person but can text others, the issue is probably with them (their phone off, their number changed, or they blocked you). If texts fail only in specific locations, the issue is cell signal in those areas.

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