Send an imessage into a text message after it's been sent to you?

I can't find this answer anywhere, but my friend told me her phone was stolen and she's using some sprint phone. But my question is, everytime I send her a message it is still an imessage, but then after 5 min it converts to a text message. So is she doing that on purpose and didn't actually lose her phone, or is the phone just forgetting she no longer has an iphone? Stupid question but I'm just curious, thanks!

IMessage uses Wi-Fi and if it can't contact the other phone within a short time it will send it as a text message automatically. It could be that the phone is off, broken, the SIM has been removed or other factors.

It is normal for every iPhone to do that so don't worry.

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