Text message fails on iPhone: “Error invalid number” notification

Thank you, Dan I. This worked!

Every time Apple does an upgrade, something else gets screwed up.
I dread every new announcement.

Thank you!! I have been struggling with this for months and this helped so much!

I’ve had this problem for the longest! So I had to delete all conversations and the contact, then turn my iphone off and on, then send a text to myself. After that I typed the problem number in manually and it finally worked! woohoo

[…] Text message fails on iPhone: “Error invalid number … – Fix an iPhone that won’t let you send a text message. “Error invalid number. Please re-send using a valid 10 digit mobile number or valid short code.”… […]

here are the steps:
1. Delete the name and number from your contact list, recent call list, Fav list, and any and all message threads.
2. Start a new text by typing in the first letter or so of the person’s name (or the digits of the number) and they should still pop up in a drop down box
3. Instead of selecting it for the text recipient, select the little “i” beside it and a new menu will pop up (that is the RECENT menu)
4. Select REMOVE from the top right corner
5. Do this for every instance with the name and number in it
6. Try a new text–nothing should pop up when you enter the number if everything is removed. 
7. Power Cycle the phone
8. Go to messages and make a new text with the number. It should now work, then re save the number as a new contact

Thank you! That worked like a charm!

I fixed mine by deleting the contact and all of my text messages

I tried everything that was mentioned above, but none of these suggestions worked for me. I discovered that my husband’s iPhone number was entered as a home phone number. I edited his info, kept hitting “add number” until iPhone appeared, and entered it under iPhone and it worked!!! No more annoying “Error invalid number…” and he actually received my text!

For some reason I had this same issue, but nothing worked. It wasn’t until I just tried entering the phone number in several times did I realize it didn’t like the 1 in front of the number. So entering it as 1(555)555-5555 gave the error message, entering it just as 555-5555 gave the error message, but when I entered it as (555)555-5555 the text finally went thru. I also had their number set as “Mobile”, but I don’t think this had any effect on fixing the issue. Removing the 1 however was the fix for this in my particular case.

It’s only happening when I message someone with an iPhone from my Galaxy. None of the fixes that I’ve read are working.

I began receiving this problem today as well. AT&T HTC One. Anyone have any suggestions? Is this an AT&T problem? My kids have AT&T iPhones and they are NOT experiencing this, only me… the Android user.

I have an iPhone 5c. I have never had any problems with it until this morning and it started doing this exact same thing I deleted the conversation it stopped for a few hours and now it’s doing it and it will not let me send a message to my mom. I’ve deleted her contact every entered it. I’ve tried everything. About to go crazy

Recently switched from Verizon to Straight Talk. My daughter’s phone (iphone 5c) is doing this same thing with a few numbers. We have tried all of these remedies and aren’t getting any results. Suggestions would be great.

I am getting the invalid code when I try to send a text to only one person. I have read through all this and spent 1 1/12 hrs on the phone with AT&T wiped my phone I can text after my phone is wiped then when I recover it bounces it back. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!they tell me my only option is to wipe my phone and start over! ridiculous!

I’m having the same issue with Straight Talk. I called them and they said its an issue with my phone. Does anyone know what is the correct 10 digit code format?

I am having this problem as well…. I have tried everything including wiping the phone and reinstalling everything. What I find absolutely interesting and completely disappointing is the fact that this seems to be a very common problem… This thread goes back 8 years and there is still no fix! REALLY??? Come on……. For the amount of money they charge for these devices and what they charge for services this is completely unacceptable……. So here is one little tidbit ill add in my findings as im continually trying to resolve this issue… After deleting all contact info and recent messages associated with this number I also found if you do a spotlight search the error messages come up with the questionable number in it. I believe this to be the source of the number disallowing text messages to go through even adding the area code… I am so disappointed that they have not come up with a simple fix for this… What an absolute PITA……..

I was having this problem while trying to text my nephew who is in Japan. He has an international number and I thought maybe that was the problem. Deleted all his contact info from my phone and tried again, nothing. Then tried entering his number in the +81[555]555-5555 format (Japan’s country code is 81) and it worked!!! Every time I tried to enter it without the plus in front of the 81 it tried to add USA’s country code to the number, so I think that was potentially my problem. So if anyone is having any issues like this with any international friends or family try putting the plus in front of their country code after you delete all the previous phone numbers for that person. :)

every time i try to search with google, it gives me the error message i have deleted all of my threads and still didn’t help. PLZ HELP!