Can’t send SMS to my sons phone!

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Level 1

4 points

Can’t send SMS to my sons phone!

Bit of background - my son has an iPhone 7, I have a iPhone 12. We are on family sharing and I use Screen Time to put restrictions on his phone - for specific apps only - and a downtime for screen time. He is on a data & calls plan and when he reaches around 100% he switches mobile data off and just uses wifi - because every percent over costs him money.

Now, all of a sudden I can’t SMS him at all when he doesn’t have acces to mobile data. I need to be able to reach him when his data is off and he doesn’t have wifi.

My husband can - iPhone 12 and my parents can - Android, it’s just me.

On both our phones we have iMessage, convert to SMS and MMS switched on. Send/Receive is on with each phone numbers ticked and they are in proper area code format. The messages eventually come through when he gets home and his wifi connects, or when he picks up wifi somewhere.

Why cant I reach him and everyone else can?? I’m at my wits end…

I’ve tried switching things on and off, restarting phones and sending a text using MMS to his iCloud ID email - still no.

can anyone help.

Thank you

iPhone 12, iOS 15

Posted on May 26, 2022 3:36 AM

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Answer 1

ColleenD1

Community Specialist

May 27, 2022 8:30 AM in response to trace_79

Hi trace_79,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're having an issue with sending text messages to your son. We'd like to help.

Just to confirm, you stated that he turns cellular data off on his device and may also not be connected to Wi-Fi at that time. Is that correct so far? To send a message to a device, that device will need to be on a cellular or Wi-Fi network to receive any messages. To break it down even further, to send an iMessage, each device will need either cellular data or Wi-Fi. To send an SMS message, the devices will need a cellular connection. Check out steps and more information about that here: If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Do you messages to your son typically appear in a blue bubble or a green bubble? If they are green, it's possible that your device is not enabled for iMessage. Let's check that out next: Set up Messages on iPhone - Apple Support

Let us know how that goes and we'll continue to help after that.

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Answer 2

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

May 27, 2022 4:06 PM in response to trace_79

Thanks for replying, trace_79, and that additional info, it really helps! At this point, please contact Apple directly to look into this further.

Apple Support

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

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Answer 3

trace_79 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2022 4:04 PM in response to ColleenD1

Hi Colleen,

Thanks for the reply.

That is correct, he turns his mobile (cellular) DATA off and is not in wifi range. And yes, we both have iMessage enabled - because I can message him (blue bubble) when he has data/wifi on.

You CAN still send SMS, as it’s only the data he turns off, he doesn’t turn off his SIM.

Up until a week ago I could message him fine in this situation - and iMessage automatically converted the message to sms (green bubble) when the phone couldn’t access iMessage (data) on the receiving device.

I tested this. Turned off DATA and wifi and my husband could text him fine with his iPhone, and my Dad could text him fine from 12 mins drive away from an Android.

It’s literally just me.

Hope this info allows someone to help me :(

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Can’t send SMS to my sons phone!

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