A U.S. district judge in California has ordered Apple to face a federal lawsuit alleging that the tech giant neglected to tell customers that they would stop receiving text messages after switching to Android devices.
Plaintiff Adrienne Moore claims that Apple's message system blocked her from receiving texts from iPhone users after she swapped her iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy S5 in April, Reuters reported.
According to Moore's suit, which seeks class-action status and unspecified damages, Apple's iOS 5 software stops the delivery of many messages from Apple users after an iPhone customer switches to a different platform.
If the allegations are true, Apple could be in violation of a California unfair competition law. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., said Monday night that Apple must face Moore's claim.
For its part, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company says it never claimed iMessage and Messages would recognize when iPhone customers change to other platforms.
"Apple takes customer satisfaction extremely seriously, but the law does not provide a remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should," Apple said in court documents, as quoted by Reuters.
Koh said that Moore should have a chance to show that Apple interfered with her new provider contract during the transition to an Android device.
"Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship," Koh wrote.
Apple now offers an online tool to help users who are transitioning to rival devices continue to receive messages from iPhone customers.
"You may need to turn off iMessage if you are now using a non-Apple phone and can't get SMS or text messages someone sends you from an iPhone," the company notes.
Apple sold 169.2 million iPhones for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 27.
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