Apple Offers Some Compensation to Victim of Stolen iPhone iMessage Bug

Apple has offered some compensation to a woman who had her privacy breached after her iMessages kept getting delivered to a stolen device, reports TNW.

This same issue was detailed by Ars Technica in the past and appears to have affected numerous customers who've had their iPhones stolen.

Shortly after the iPhone was stolen the woman had her SIM card deactivated. However, iMessages sent from her contacts were still being 'delivered' to the device.


Apple suggested a variety of solutions in order to stop the messages from being sent to the stolen device including resetting her Apple ID and taking her SIM to the Apple Store to insert it into another device. After none of these procedures worked, Apple made the unreasonable suggestion that she contact every person that might try to iMessage her and ask them not to.

TNW reports that it was not until six weeks after the device was stolen that "Apple was finally able to remotely push 'code' out to the stolen iPhone in order to make the problem stop. This was a result of an Apple Engineering Team weighing in on how to solve the issue."

Once the problem was resolved, the woman was directed to Apple legal in order to discuss the privacy breach and seek compensation.

Initially Apple balked at any sort of compensation as it said it was not in the habit of replacing stolen iPhones, which is completely reasonable. But K pointed out that any compensation would not for the loss of her iPhone, but for her breach of privacy due to the iMessage bug causing continued re-routing of messages sent to her. After a discussion with the Apple legal department, conducted by phone, K was offered an iPod touch as compensation for her trouble.


Apple has not commented on the matter but it appears that the only solution to resolving this issue is to toggle iMessage ON and OFF on the stolen device. Something you clearly can't do.

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