iMessage Does not Switch to SMS and Back
Reason for mentioning this issue is because I don't always have an internet or data connection. Mostly I want to use Messages for regular SMS messages but there are times when I'd like to use Internet or data to send a video or voice message through iMessage.
To avoid having to toggle between iMessage enabled/disabled, I thought I'd leave iMessage enabled with 'Send as SMS' enabled. It states, "Send as SMS message when iMessage is unavailable".
And so it sends as iMessage (blue) when internet or data is on; however, when I turn those off and therefore rendering iMessage unavailable, it does not switch to SMS. It continues to send as iMessage. I can see the status bar for sending the iMessage creeping up but then gets stuck at about 80%. It does not switch or send as SMS afterwards.
When an iPhone friend tries to send me a message, it also does not come through as it initially sends as iMessage on their device which again, gets stuck without switching to SMS as my iMessage is unavailable.
So either I have a different idea of what 'unavailable' means or the iMessage 'Send as SMS' is not functioning properly.
(Updates are current).
I wonder why because I would have expected the Messages app to check for iMessage connectivity to determine whether it needs to switch to SMS or not?
Am I missing something?
iPhone 15