SMS messaging question

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
SMS Messaging continues to baffle me. In the early days of my cheap flip phone I could send a text with just basic cell service, no thoughts about wifi etc.
With my iPhone I am a very light user, so I have a basic plan with very limited data. Therefore I generally have cell data turned OFF until I really need it for something. Of course when on wifi I can send Messages (blue bubbles) to family who are also have iPhones and are on wifi. When I am away from home and not on wifi I can send a message (say to my wife, at home, who is on wifi) and it will go as a green bubble and be received at the time I send it. However if that person replies at that time, they see a blue bubble but I won't get that reply until I get back onto wifi, much later.

On my iPhone Settings > Messages > Send as SMS is on and the test underneath says "Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable..." That probably explains why I was able to send the text message when I was not on wifi. But is there a setting I am missing that will allow me to receive a message when iMessage is unavailable to me?
 

DaveS

Well-Known Member
I can't answer your question with any certainty, but I suspect not. To my mind the simplest approach is to leave data on for a few minutes after you've sent your message to see if you get a reply. I don't believe there's any impact on your data supply when you're not actually browsing, sending or receiving. I switched awhile ago to Public Mobile which is a bit slower than the main services, but quite adequate for my purposes, I have a 1 gig of data and can leave it on all the time. I used to do like you and only turn it on if I needed to.
Dave
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine has an iPhone but never turned on iMessage because he has unlimited texting on his plan. This aggravates me because the only device I ever receive his messages on is my phone, which of course has cell service.

Your best option is to leave cell data turned ON -- SMS doesn't use it, and while iMessages do they don't use much (assuming you're not texting pictures and videos, et al). That way, regardless of message style or messenger, everyone receives and sends what they intend. If you're concerned about other apps using cell data, you can turn them all off in Settings->Cellular (scroll down till you see the list of apps), except for the ones where using cell data is okay with you. In your case, have Messages turned on and most everything else turned off for cell data.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
I can't answer your question with any certainty, but I suspect not. To my mind the simplest approach is to leave data on for a few minutes after you've sent your message to see if you get a reply.
Dave

That is an interesting approach and would certainly work for me if I originate the texting session and expect a reply but of course would not help at all if someone else just originates a texting session when I am "out and about".
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Your best option is to leave cell data turned ON -- SMS doesn't use it, and while iMessages do they don't use much (assuming you're not texting pictures and videos, et al). That way, regardless of message style or messenger, everyone receives and sends what they intend. If you're concerned about other apps using cell data, you can turn them all off in Settings->Cellular (scroll down till you see the list of apps), except for the ones where using cell data is okay with you. In your case, have Messages turned on and most everything else turned off for cell data.

Yes, I guess I have to resign myself to leaving cell data on all the time. My hesitation is mainly a carry over from the days when I had a very tiny data amount but I have now increased that somewhat so probably have no need to worry about it.

It is just an annoyance to me that the Messages app on my iPhone can send a text without data but can't receive one, while my old Seven-Eleven flip phone could handle that task without breaking a sweat!
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine has an iPhone but never turned on iMessage because he has unlimited texting on his plan. This aggravates me because the only device I ever receive his messages on is my phone, which of course has cell service.

Wow, this really got my mind working. If I switched off the Messages app when I left the house, would that let normal texts arrive? And without Messages turned on, is there some other way I could originate a text message? Of course that would be a pain to do each time I left the house, but perhaps a Shortcut could be set up (if I were clever enough) to handle turning off Messages when I leave this location.

I know this will never really happen and I will go the more sensible route of just knuckling under and leaving cell data turned on all the time.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
If I switched off the Messages app when I left the house, would that let normal texts arrive?

You could do as my pal does and just turn iMessages off. Your friends and fam (even the ones on Apple equipment) can send you messages and they'll "fall back" to SMS if those people have the fall-back option turned on ... otherwise they'll just fail outright. You also can send SMS messages to someone's iPhone or Android and it will just go as an SMS message, but this is probably (I don't know your plan, but I'd wager) for text messages only; no photos/videos/attachments. So this would work for the most part.

Of course your friends and family will hate you for not having the "blue bubble" instead of the "green bubble" ... :)
 
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