The tech giant finally released a new method that would allow to free former iPhone owners from iMessage. The new remedy will solve a problem that has annoyed switchers since iMessage service was introduced 3 years ago. As you might remember, the replacement for text messaging has arrived with iOS 5, and iMessage now allows iPhone, iPad and Mac users exchange text and picture messages to other owners of Apple devices over the Internet for free.

iMessage works the following way: it registers the user’s phone number and email address with Apple, and diverts regular SMS messages to the new protocol if they are sent between the compatible users. Although iMessage can be turned off from an iPhone, until now those users who had switched to a device of another manufacturer without disabling iMessage first, have been struggling with undelivered messages. No easy way to solve the problem was found for them.

If a former iPhone user forgot to turn the service off, Apple couldn’t help. One of the affected users complained that Apple’s interim solution was to tell every single one of your contacts to delete every single message thread with you. Apparently, Apple had no solution and users were furious that the company has their phone number held hostage with no way to get it back.

Now Apple introduced a new tool: former iPhone users can visit its website and deregister. Apple explained that the service is meant for people who may need to turn off iMessage if they are now using a non-Apple device and cannot get SMS or text messages sent from an iPhone. Of course, many welcomed the new method, even if some wondered why it took so long for Apple to release a fix. Perhaps, when Apple was developing iMessage service, nobody at Apple could imagine that someone might eventually want to switch from iPhone to another device.