does imessage use data plan?

I found this - seems pretty conclusive to me...

"Let's put it this way, if each message takes up 1K (and it's probably much less than that on average), and you send or receive 1 message every minute you're awake (16 hours a day) for a whole month, you'd use 29 MB for those 28,800 messages, or less than 15% of even the smallest 200 MB data plan.

Yes, pictures are going to use more data. You could send 1,000 (about 33 per day) 100K picture messages (again, that's on the large size, most .jpg pics will be smaller) and only use 100 MB, or 50% of your 200 MB data plan.

Now if you're sending 30,000 text messages or 1,000 picture messages, it seems pretty obvious you aren't a good candidate for the "light user" 200 MB data plan anyway. Most people are going to have a 2 GB data limit. Under that, you could send your 30,000 text messages and your 1,000 picture messages and only use about 6.5% of your 2 GB data limit."

The pictures taken with an iPhone 4s range in size from 1.7Mbytes to 4.6Mbytes. When using the email sending utility, it is easy to reduce the file size. That resolution reduction option is not available for texting a picture message. There is probably some app out there that will reduce the file size.

For video it's automatic..the quality is not preserved after a set file size. (I don't know what that is though).

For example, I just sent a 15 second MMS video clip and the quality was automatically downgraded to what looks like VGA - although the original is clear in the "Photos".

I then sent a shorter clip, 7 seconds and it was crystal clear, just like in the "Photos"

I can only assume that there is some in-built reduction setting - unlike the email choice of Small, Medium, Large or Actual.

I also iMessaged myself a picture from my library - it's 2.3MB, I received my own photo and saved it back to my library and it was 2.3MB - so there is no change as you pointed out.

I have a theory that this is because I am on wifi though - On 3G, I think it kicks in the above stuff I mentioned...

Isn't there something about YouTube auto switching when on 3G and when on wifi? Same thing maybe?

I talked to an AT&T tech about the file size issue, since they say unlimited texts include picture and video. He could not come up with a way to reduce the file. He noted that would be a problem and gave me a $25 credit on my bill for the "trouble". I found that if I take a screen shot of a displayed photo (home and power button), I can get the size down to 0.9Mb. The AT&T guy said picture file size should be about 0.5Mb or less to send easily via SMS.

I message does not use your data plan unless you do not have texting plan when your are trying to message someone not using an apple device. For instance if you have and ipod touch and your texting your buddy with an ipad then you must be on an wifi area duh, beacause ipod touch doesn't have 3g capabilities and niether does the ipad. lets say you had an iphone and you weren't in a wifi zone then you would either need a data plan or a texting plan to text any non aple device. The cost of sending or receiving one text is 20 cents and picture text rates vary on there size. If you have a iphone and you are in wifi to use you imessage app then there isn't any nedd for antexting or data plan since the imessage is just using the wifi service which is ore or less free. don't you got it know.?

iMessage certainly uses data. Many have confirmed that. However, you can't compare the size of an SMS text message (billed and measured in characters) to the size of iMessages (billed and measured in bytes). Yes, each character is a byte but when you send an iMessage the characters are encapsulated in a protocol which adds bytes to the message. (SMS has protocol bytes also but SMS text messaging is not billed in bytes so it is irrelevant.). iMessage also sets up a two way conversation with the receiver. So when an iMessage "conversation" is going on, there is an exchange of information going on (i.e. you are using data) even when you are not sending characters. That is how you can tell someone read your text, is typing, etc.

I still agree it is (or should be) a small amount of data. But if you are paying for unlimited SMS texting, it may make sense to turn off iMessage.

AT&T's family unlimited messaging includes text, picutures, videos, and IM (AOL, Yahoo, or Windows Live). So it really makes no sense for me to use iMessage. Given the large number of Apple devices on the AT&T network, it would be nice if they included iMessage with unlimited messaging (to get the IM like features). Then again, it would be nice if there were a universal IM standard....

Since I started using imessage ( 3 months now) I have received messages from my provider that I am getting close to using my data plan. I have unlimited text (mobile 2 mobile) and after reviewing my detailed bill I noticed that it no longer shows the number of the person I am exchanging text with. It shows as phone / net use. It is certainly using my data plan when I use iMessage. It only shows the numbers of the people I text that do not use iMessage.

I was sending an average of 1000 - 1500 M2M texts and since using iMessage it shows that I only use less than 10.

hi, I have a data plan of 6GB and i text with imessage from canada to someone from china who also use an iphone and the imessage thing, my question is, if do we get charged for the imessage internationally?

i have understood it is free as long as both phone have the imessage set up

iMessages go over the internet, so they do use up your data plan. pure text iMessages are so tiny that most people consider them, for all practical purposes, as free. When you start attaching large photos or videos to them, they are no longer "tiny" and you have to start paying attention to their impact on your data plan.

alissafrombolivar wrote:

hi, I have a data plan of 6GB and i text with imessage from canada to someone from china who also use an iphone and the imessage thing, my question is, if do we get charged for the imessage internationally?

i have understood it is free as long as both phone have the imessage set up

If you are using iMessage with a wifi connection, then no, it will not cost you anything as far as your cellular data plan is concerned. If you are not using a wifi connection, and are connected by a cellular data connection, then anything and everything you do over that connection will cost you data, including using iMessage or email.

It has nothing to do with what app you use - it has to do with what type of data connection you are using at the time. You cellular service provider has no information at all about what you do over wifi, but anything you do over thier cellular data network counts as data against your plan.

i dont understand. I have a 6GB data plan, it supposed to use my data plan when sending imessage nor charge me right?

orwhat you mean is that if i dont have any data plan and i dont use wifi and i automatically send imessage without using either wifi or data plan, i will get charged as international message? is that what you mean?

i just want to know if i get charged or not? I have a 6gb data plan

alissafrombolivar wrote:

i dont understand. I have a 6GB data plan, it supposed to use my data plan when sending imessage nor charge me right?

orwhat you mean is that if i dont have any data plan and i dont use wifi and i automatically send imessage without using either wifi or data plan, i will get charged as international message? is that what you mean?

i just want to know if i get charged or not? I have a 6gb data plan

It depends on how your device is connecting to the internet at the time you send the message. iMessage will work over wifi IF a wifi connection is available and IF you are connected to it. iMessage will also work over cellular data, so IF you are out of range of any wifi nodes or IF you are not connected to wifi for any reason, it will use your cellular data connection and those messages will count against your data plan.

iMessage is only free if the data connection you are using is free. If using your cellular service provider's data connection when you send an iMessage, yes, your cellular provider is going to count that data traffic against your account. Your cellular provider does not care if the service you are using is free or not - all they care about is are you using their network when you send or receive data, any data.

If you do not use their data connection (that is, if you are careful to ONLY use iMessage when you know you have a wifi connection) then they could not care less about how much data you send or with what service you are using.

so what is the difference between wifi and data plan? data plan is also an internet plan.

I have asked my company provider whether is it free, and they told me its free because it counts from your data plan. It uses internet, so as long as you have an internet plan is fine?

how can be possible only use wifi? otherwise whatsap shoukld only use wifi to send msg abroa because with data plan get charged as international msg?

wifi refers to 802.11/a/b/g/n internet connecitons, the same ones your computer uses if you have a wifi network at home or you use a free internet connection at a cafe or other public area. wifi has nothing, nothing AT ALL to do with your cellular service provider nor your cellular service data plan. It connects via a completely different radio, on different frequency bands, using different connection protocols.

Your cellular radio in your phone is also capable of transmitting and receive both voice and data but connects (completely INDEPENDENTLY of wifi) to your carriers cellular tower network. That connection, of course, is monitored by them and any data sent or received that way shows up on your bill.

IF you want to be sure to use iMessage ONLY over wifi, then turn on airplane mode. Then turn on wifi BY ITSELF - now the ONLY connection your phone can use is a wifi one (if available). Anything you then do has nothing to do with your cellular provider as the cellular radio is actually turned off and inactive. They can hardly bill you for wifi use since they have no way of knowing when you are using wifi, nor what you are doing with it.

However, your phone, being the intelligently designed device that it is, will use cellular data (IF airplane mode is not on) when you wish to use an app, like iMessage, that uses data, and when no wifi connection is available. For normal daily use, your iPhone will preferentially use wifi if it is within range of a wifi router to connect to. But if not, it will still work with the app BUT will switch to use the cellular data connection, which will cost you.

So you need to be aware of what your are using, and what connections you have to use for data. If there is no wifi symbol in the top bar of the screen, and you are using an internet data app (like iMessage) then you are USING CELLULAR DATA and it will be on your cell phone bill as data used.

A data app will use whichever internet data connection is available - wifi by preference, if available, but cellular if wifi is NOT available. The app does not care which radio is being used to send or receive data - it just needs an internet connection, and the phone will provide whichever is available (or wifi if both types of data connection are available, since wifi gets priority).