Computers & Hardware > Apple Related
Send message as SMS, not iMessage
sevenlayermuddle:
I want to get a message a person who is on travels in some far flung and relatively uncivilised place. I've been warned that I should use SMS text, rather than email, as hotel WiFi is not provided and mobile data will be disabled owing to crippling roaming costs.
Trouble is, because the iMessage server knows we are both Apple users, iPhone messages App insists on sending as iMessage - which won't get through, if she has data disabled. There is an iOS Messages setting "Send as SMS", but that only seems to kick in if iMessage is unavailable to the sender.
One way I figured out was to temporarily disable Data and Wifi on the phone, thus rendering iMessage as "Unavailable". That worked, my message was sent as SMS. I then have to remember to turn it all back on again. I suspect signing out of iMessage would have worked too, and signing back in later.
What a palaver! >:(
Is there an easier way to force iOS to send just one isolated message as SMS, even though iMessage is available ?
Westie:
If there is I would love to know it! :D
The quickest way I know to turn iMessage off is through Settings>Messages. However, I suspect that once a conversation has begun in SMS, it will continue like that until the conversation is deleted, even when iMessaging is turned back on.
Good ol' Apple :no:
sevenlayermuddle:
Good to hear it's not just me. :)
You're right, simply turning off iMessage is less bother, but that still depends on me remembering to turn it back on again, as it is not without its uses.
There's plenty of online articles, and forums, telling people techniques to send as SMS - but it all seems to be cobblers, none of these methods worked for me.
I did notice that an earlier version of my message this morning,that I had accidentally allowed to go as an iMessage, seemed to mysteriously convert itself to a text message, but only after quite a long time had elapsed, and all the while it had shown iMessage status as 'delivered'. I'm guessing iMessage server eventually communicated with the sender (my iPhone) to admit it had failed, and requested my phone to resend it as SMS. If that's how it works, it would be useless - I might for example have switched off my own phone and boarded a lung haul flight immediately after sending it.
Westie:
On principle, my phone is set to not use mobile data at all, so if someone sends me an iMessage I don't get it until I'm back in range of the house WiFi anyway.
I think you're right about the iMessage server. When I had a Windows phone, I would sometimes get an unreadable 'media message' from someone who had tried to send me a text from their iPhone. I would get the same thing several times over the course of hours, before the server finally gave up. The sender, of course, had no idea - they thought they had just sent a text!
sevenlayermuddle:
Have to admit, I have never really been a text junkie. I prefer email for asynchronous messaging, otherwise voice calls. But having learned today about the additional uncertainty added by iMessage, it does explain a few scenarios from the past, where person (a) swears blind that they sent a text message, person (b) emphatically denies that they received it. :)
Mind you, it also underlines the fact that texts, iMessages, and even emails, are not the things to use when time matters. I am about 5 minutes drive from the railway station and it’s not uncommon for somebody to text me saying “my train arrives in 5 minutes”. If the text is delayed within the network, or even if I am just inattentive or asleep, it is followed by a grumpy phone call half an hour later saying “I’ve been waiting 25 minutes, where are you?”. :D
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