iPhone 12 Pro not Sending Text Messages? Fix

Is your iPhone 12 Pro not sending text messages? Check out these troubleshooting tips to get back to texting fast.

While texting is one of the most basic functions on your iPhone, sometimes your iPhone 12 Pro may fail to send text messages. This could be for a wide range of reasons: perhaps you don’t have a network signal, or maybe you’ve simply used the wrong number. Regardless, it’s usually a quick fix to get your iPhone 12 Pro sending SMS or MMS messages again, so don’t start panicking just yet.

If your iPhone 12 Pro won’t send text messages, the first thing you should do is make sure you have a decent signal — without cell or Wi-Fi connectivity, those texts are going nowhere.
Make sure you didn’t accidentally block the number you’re trying to text.
A reset of an iPhone 12 Pro can usually fix an issue with outgoing texts,.
resetting network settings is also a good way to refresh it and remove any glitches.

Fix iPhone 12 Pro not Sending Text Messages

Here are several ways to troubleshoot your iPhone 12 Pro if you can’t send texts:

Solution #1: Check Your Network Signal

Here’s a fun fact: it’s impossible to send an SMS (i.e. text) message without a mobile network signal. If your iPhone 12 Pro won’t send text messages, you should thus check your cell signal.

Try moving to an area with better reception if it’s weak or nonexistent. And if you’re in an area that usually has a good signal, contact your mobile network operator.

Solution #2: Make sure your Mobile Plan is Active

You should next check whether you currently have an active mobile service plan. If you don’t have one, you won’t be able to send texts on your iPhone 12 Pro. While the vast majority of phone plans offer standard unlimited texting , you might have exceeded your monthly limit of text messages if you have a limited plan.

In either case, you should contact your mobile carrier. Activate a new plan if you don’t have one, or purchase a bigger SMS message allowance if you’ve run out of texts.

Solution #3: Make sure You Have Texted the Right Number

Sending text messages to inactive or unused numbers is a recipe for failure and frustration. When sending an SMS message, make sure you type in the correct number. This should be no problem when you message a contact stored on your iPhone, but it can require care when entering a new number.

Take your time when entering numbers. If you continue to have trouble, contact your intended recipient by other means to confirm the correct number.

This last point is important. Sometimes, your contacts may change their numbers, or their mobile operator may disconnect them. This is why you should update your contact numbers as regularly as possible.

Solution #4. Make Sure SMS and MMS Are On

When you message a contact with an Apple device, your iPhone sends it via iMessage by default. These aren’t normal text messages, but rather messages sent using a Wi-Fi (or cellular data) connection between iPhone owners.

Because iMessages sometimes fail to send, your iPhone might instead try sending SMS messages, even to other iPhone users. However, you need to switch this feature on in Settings for it to work.

Open the Settings app.
Go to Messages.
Tap the Send as SMS slider so it moves into the green “on” position.
Your iPhone can also send MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages. These are text messages that include some kind of media, such as images or video clips. You may need to enable these messages in Settings before you’re able to send them.

Also, your cell plan may not cover MMS messaging. As a result, any text message sent with multimedia will fail to send.

Here’s how you activate MMS messages:

Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap Messages.
Tap the MMS Messaging toggle to set it to the green “on” position.

Solution #5: Make sure you are not in Airplane Mode

Airplane mode prevents your iPhone from sending and receiving signals. This includes cellular and Wi-Fi signals, so you won’t be able to send or receive text messages.

Because of this, you should make sure that you’ve turned off Airplane Mode before trying to send messages. You can do this by opening your iPhone’s Control Center and tapping the airplane symbol. This symbol is grayed out whenever airplane mode is off.

Simply swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to launch Control Center. As a bonus, sometimes toggling airplane mode on and off can clear up temporary signal hiccups, too.

Solution #6: Try Starting Again

If your iPhone 12 Pro can’t send text messages, try closing the Messages app and opening it again. This isn’t the most “scientific” method, but some users report that it’s sometimes effective.

You can also try deleting any Messages conversations that contain failed texts. Once again, it’s not obvious why this can be effective. But by clearing away such conversations, you may “free up” the Messages app to work properly again.

You can delete conversations in Messages by doing the following:

Open the Messages app.
Swipe left on the conversation you’d like to delete.
Tap Delete, and tap again to confirm.
Finally, press the New Message icon in the top-right corner of the Messages screen to give it another try.

Solution #7: Restart Your iPhone

If you find your iPhone 12 Pro not sending texts after trying all of the above solutions, you can next try restarting your phone. Restarts clear temporary memory, so they can be a good way of removing any issues affecting how your iPhone works.

To restart your iPhone, hold the Side button and one of the Volume buttons. You then have to swipe the power off slider from left to right.

Solution #8: Update your iPhone

Make sure your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS. New updates for iOS iron out software issues and bugs, so if your iPhone 12 Pro can’t send text messages, it’s a good idea to update.

To update your iPhone, connect it to Wi-Fi and a power source. Now follow the steps below:

Launch the Settings app.
Tap on General.
Tap Software Update.
If an update is available, tap Download and Install.

Solution #9: Reset Your Network Settings

You shouldn’t take resetting your iPhone’s network settings too lightly. Network settings save data such as Wi-Fi networks and passwords, so it isn’t ideal to erase them. That said, it’s worth doing if you’ve tried everything above and your iPhone 12 Pro still won’t send text messages.

Follow the steps below to clear your iPhone’s network settings:

Launch the Settings app.
Tap on General.
Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset.
Tap on Reset Network Settings.
Type in your passcode.
Tap Reset Network Settings to confirm.

Solution #10: Make a call

If your iPhone 12 Pro won’t send SMS messages after trying the above steps, your last option is to contact your mobile operator. Try calling its customer service line. If they can’t help you, you should contact Apple. After ruling everything else out, your iPhone may have some kind of hardware issue.