Why isn’t the phone number for my iPad receive messages
My iPad has a phone number registered to it but cannot receiveany messages to it. Why?
iPad, iPadOS 14
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A WiFi plus cellular iPad has a phone number associated with it that is used by cellular data service providers for account billing purposes only. It is not a useable cellular telephone number, and it cannot connect to any cellular service provider’s voice telephone bandwidth.
SMS and MMS texts are sent over the cellular telephone voice spectrum. No iPad is capable of even connecting to that spectrum so no iPad can natively send nor receive SMS/MMS texts.
An iPad, any and every iPad, by itself is limited to internet message services only using WiFi or cellular data connections (so services like Apple’s iMessage, or Skype, or WhatsApp web).
For an iPad to send or receive SMS or MMS texts it must be paired with an iPhone - see -> Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch - Apple Support. The iPad then uses the iPhones cellular telephone voice spectrum connection to send and receive SMS/MMS texts over the shared iPhone connection.