Just this morning, I was sitting in my car waiting for Alternate Side of the Street parking to end (a dance that many car-owning New Yorkers go through) and texted my partner to come take his turn. As normal, I used the Messages app on my Pixel 6 phone to contact him and waited for the usual reply (“On my way!” or “Be there in a few!”), but after about four minutes or so, I realized that I hadn’t had a response. When I checked the app, I saw that the text hadn’t been sent — instead, there was a tiny message saying my partner’s phone was off and asking if I wanted to send an SMS / MMS instead.

What?

I chose to send the SMS and got an immediate reply (proving that the phone was not off). What was the problem? I’m not absolutely sure, but…

Continue reading…