Texts to anyone

Sorry if I’m posting in the wrong place, but GARMIN has closed the forums for new posts on the original mini.

 I used to be able to text anyonof my contacts from the mini.  Now it seems that it requires the person receiving the text, must have GARMIN messenger installed on their phone.  If they don’t have that app installed, they’ll eventually get a text from GARMIN messenger saying it’s trying to reach them, but they need to install the app in their phone.  Then of course, it asks for a username and password, so for those without GARMIN accounts, they need to sign up.  

is this true, or am I wrong?  After repeated tries this morning, it seems to be true.  Note that GARMIN messenger is not compatible with the original mini.  So I need to have the app in my phone only to receive messages.  I hope I’m wrong.  But so far, this is what it’s looking like.  

  • Has the person you're sending the message to previously used the Garmin Messenger app? I believe that when the recipient has used the messenger app before, his/her phone number is linked to the Garmin Messenger app account (which is different from a Garmin account, btw). Ask the person to delete their Garmin Messenger account, this can be done from the Messenger app (select Messages tab, click profile icon, select Accounts, select Manage Garmin Messenger Account, select Delete Garmin Messenger Account).

    When a recipient hasn't used the Messenger app, any inReach message you send should up either as an SMS (when sent to mobile phone number), as an email (when sent to email address) or as a message on the user's inReach device (when using the inReach address, which looks like an email address but in fact isn't one).

  • JungleJim-   That's exactly what was going on!  THANK YOU!  I deleted my Garmin Messenger account, and all is now back to the way it used to work.  Thank goodness it was user error!  

    A big thank you for your help!

  • Welcome to phone number hijacking. Garmin feels that this is a feature. I have yet to see any user here on the forums who agrees with that.

    Do note that the hijacking only applies to messages which originate inside the Garmin ecosystem.