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how to send imessage to other countries?

hi, can you help me please, im from indonesia and i want to text someone from USA and i entered the right number but why when i text its still SMS/MMS and not imessage, but we are in the same ios user. Can you help me ASAP thank you :)

Posted on Apr 28, 2020 6:52 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on May 3, 2020 5:09 AM

Is iMessage activate on your iPhone?


Entire process is just 4 steps with one criteria


Criteria: For activating iMessage, you need one-time SMS messaging service (If you have one, skip this) to be activated on your phone number. Depending on your carrier, you might be charged for this (for iMessage activation only) SMS.


Contact your Carrier (Cellular Service Provider) The agency who issued the SIM to you to know whether you have SMS plan enabled at least for One SMS


4 Step Process --> Turn off and restart iMessage and FaceTime (The order / sequence is very important)

  1. Go to Settings > Messages and turn off iMessage.
  2. Go to Settings > FaceTime and turn off FaceTime.
  3. Restart your device.
  4. Turn iMessage and FaceTime back on. (Watch the GIF below)



  • Still not activated after a day?
  1. It might take up to 24 hours to activate iMessage and FaceTime. If the issue continues after 24 hours, follow these steps:
  2. Make sure that your device has the latest version of iOS.
  3. If you're using an iPhone, contact your carrier to make sure that you can receive SMS messages.
  4. Contact Apple Support.







If you do not want to use Phone Number for iMessages then you can send it over WiFi without SIM through your Apple ID.


If you get an error when trying to activate iMessage or FaceTime ...

3 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 3, 2020 5:09 AM in response to zhita

Is iMessage activate on your iPhone?


Entire process is just 4 steps with one criteria


Criteria: For activating iMessage, you need one-time SMS messaging service (If you have one, skip this) to be activated on your phone number. Depending on your carrier, you might be charged for this (for iMessage activation only) SMS.


Contact your Carrier (Cellular Service Provider) The agency who issued the SIM to you to know whether you have SMS plan enabled at least for One SMS


4 Step Process --> Turn off and restart iMessage and FaceTime (The order / sequence is very important)

  1. Go to Settings > Messages and turn off iMessage.
  2. Go to Settings > FaceTime and turn off FaceTime.
  3. Restart your device.
  4. Turn iMessage and FaceTime back on. (Watch the GIF below)



  • Still not activated after a day?
  1. It might take up to 24 hours to activate iMessage and FaceTime. If the issue continues after 24 hours, follow these steps:
  2. Make sure that your device has the latest version of iOS.
  3. If you're using an iPhone, contact your carrier to make sure that you can receive SMS messages.
  4. Contact Apple Support.







If you do not want to use Phone Number for iMessages then you can send it over WiFi without SIM through your Apple ID.


If you get an error when trying to activate iMessage or FaceTime ...

Apr 30, 2020 6:45 AM in response to zhita

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, zhita!


I understand you're trying to send an iMessage to a friend in the US, but it's still sending as MMS. I'd be happy to provide information to help you address this.


Both you and your friend should make sure that iMessage is correctly setup. Alternatively, your friend might not have their phone number setup for iMessage. Use these steps to attempt to resolve the issue:

Set up Messages on iPhone

Add or remove your phone number in Messages or FaceTime


Let us know the results.

Have a great day!

how to send imessage to other countries?

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