Verizon number not receiving text from iPhone users

I recently got a new phone number that I registered on the Verizon network using Verizon prepaid. I get great service, certainly much better than my previous carrier but I soon realized that I could not receive messages from iPhone users. The new phone I purchased to use with my new phone number is an Android. The Motorola One 5G UW Ace, a very nice phone, with great features. Soon I was giving my new number out by sending text messages to let everyone know I had changed carriers, and phone number. My friend asked me if I bought an iPhone because it said she could sent me an iMessage. I thought it was odd, but figured it must have something to do with using WiFi to send messages when data was not available. Days went by, and I learned that I was receiving text messages from everyone I knew except those that are Apple iPhones users.

After doing some research, it turned out to be a simple fix. It all made sense now, the iMessage comment from my friend, and learning about how iPhones can only send iMessages to other iPhone users. The previous owner of my new phone number must have had an iPhone, and my new number had been registered with Apple. The messages that my friends were trying to send me from their iPhone were now sitting on the Apple servers somewhere, and were undeliverable because it was attempting to send them as an iMessage. The senders saw a confirmation that the message had been sent, but I never received them. The solution was to unregister my new number with Apple so it didn’t try to send texts using iMessage. This worked almost immediately after entering my number on the Apple website.

Here is where I entered my new number to deregister it from Apple. https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage/

I hope this helps others that are having the same issue.

Willy