My daughter's iphone has a phone plan with call and text but no data. When she is away from wifi she is unable to send text messages to my iphone. My daughter's phone has iMessage turned on and 'Send as SMS' turned on. She is able to text her dad's andriod phone but not my iphone.
iPhone 6
For the record, I have got it working...sort of. I turned off iMessage and then restarted the phone. Then I turned iMessage back on. It is working to send messages back and forth between my daughter's iPhone and my iPhone without data, however sometimes the message is delayed by at least five minutes.
For the record, I have got it working...sort of. I turned off iMessage and then restarted the phone. Then I turned iMessage back on. It is working to send messages back and forth between my daughter's iPhone and my iPhone without data, however sometimes the message is delayed by at least five minutes.
iMessage uses data, and can’t work without it, so it needs Wi-Fi to send iMessages if the phone has mobile data turned off. And Send as SMS will send a message as SMS if the recipient cannot receive iMessages (such as to her dad). If the sender can’t doesn’t have an internet connection it will not send over SMS; it will hold the message until it has an internet connection. The only solution in this case is to turn off iMessage on her phone, so it will always use SMS.
To follow up on this:
You can apparently send an iMessage, then immediately tap and hold on the text bubble to get the option to send that message as a SMS message. This doesn't require changing the iMessage setting.
https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-send-text-message-instead-of-imessage/
In practice, if you try to send an iMessage, and you do not have an Internet connection, the Messages app may eventually come back with a "Not delivered" error. If it does, and you tap and hold on that, I believe that it will give you an option to resend that message as a SMS message.
Turning off iMessage creates other problems for messaging with other iPhone users. We want to keep iMessage enabled but to send SMS messages when data or wifi are not available.
An iPhone should be able to switch between iMessage and SMS whenever needed without the user doing it manually.
“Should” is meaningless. That’s not how iPhones are designed to work. They are intended to be continuously connected devices. Many functions will not work properly without a data connection; an important one to many people is Find My to track the location of a phone or user of the phone.
Thank you for this information. It helps me better understand what to expect from an iPhone.
I'm just a little frustrated with how Apple has chosen to design their phones. Data is a luxury some people cannot afford and it's unfortunate that Apple hasn't designed their phones to work better without data. Android seems like a better choice for someone who can't afford or doesn't want to pay for a data plan.
AJReim wrote:
Thank you for this information. It helps me better understand what to expect from an iPhone.
I'm just a little frustrated with how Apple has chosen to design their phones. Data is a luxury some people cannot afford and it's unfortunate that Apple hasn't designed their phones to work better without data. Android seems like a better choice for someone who can't afford or doesn't want to pay for a data plan.
Most plans these days – in the U.S., anyway – provide some cellular data. It might be only 1 GB a month before you incur charges for additional data, but if you're treating cellular data as a luxury, that 1 GB can go a long way. iMessages, in particular, don't use a lot of cellular data, unless you're in the habit of attaching lots of big photos, videos, and other such files.
AJReim wrote:
Android seems like a better choice for someone who can't afford or doesn't want to pay for a data plan.
Android phones are also designed to perform optimally with data.
As Servant of Cats pointed out, most plans have some data. You might want to discuss options with your carrier. If it's been a while since you checked out plans, you may find there are options you didn't know about.
Great find, Servant of Cats!
And for AJReim, turning off iMessage does not create any problems for other iPhone users, because all iPhones can receive SMS. Whether they have iMessage on or off.
I think the assumption is that anyone who can afford a $1,000 phone can afford data for it.
send sms from iphone without data to another iphone user
