[pfranz]

How recent was this? Years ago I remember hearing the scenario where people who switched from iPhone -> Android (keeping the same number) would continue to have iMessages go to their old phone. Or the messages would just get lost in the ether if their old phone was off or sold.

For awhile, at least at the Apple store, they were very deliberate about disabling "Find my iPhone" and iMessage when handing off or wiping a phone. I don't remember them doing this recently, so I figured it was built into the process now.

I do think we need some basic awareness about digital devices, just like people do when they let someone borrow the keys to their house (although, many people are terrible at managing that). I recently sold a house with a Nest and a few other IoT things. I wiped them and reset them to factory settings. The realtor and new owner were asking me for my login/password (I'm sure this happens often for them) because they figured it was still tied to my old account.

[ssfrr]

This was last week. It seems like the same mechanism though, if the phone is still tied to their Apple ID.

[pfranz]

I wonder if the only part that changed is now the have a user-facing way to deactivate: https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage/

iMessage was launched in 2011 and archive.org shows that page first showing up in late 2014. I remember hearing very few options for removing your old phone early on.