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Why is my iMessage being sent as a text message?

A couple of days ago I installed iOS 5 on my iPhone 4. Now, for my contacts who also own iPhones, iMessages seem to be activated. When I send a message, the bubble is blue, indicating an iMessage.


But then, a few minutes later, these messages are turning green, and underneath them is a line saying "sent as Text message".


Is this a bug? Why's this happening? At the moment, iMessage seems to be useless, at least for me. (I'm in Canada, working on a Bell contract. Does that factor in?)

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 7:14 AM

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Posted on Oct 19, 2011 7:26 AM

Turn off "send as SMS" in "settings >> messages"

17 replies

Nov 7, 2011 9:05 AM in response to Trevor Cole

I am having the same issue. And turning off "Send as SMS" does indeed disable ALL SMS function. It will show that you sent a text (green box) but it will not go through to the recepient. I tried sending an SMS to my other phone to test this. Is there any news on Apple providing an iOS5 update to remedy this? Seems like a very common problem......

Nov 11, 2011 10:57 AM in response to Trevor Cole

I'm having this problem also.

Both my wife and I have an iPhone 4 running iOS5, we were texting using iMessage, and it was working but then for some strange reason, the last 3 or so messages we sent got sent as text, but it didn't show them being sent as a text, until you left iMessage, and returned to it.

The problem was, I had sent 2 pictures through iMessage, they got sent as MMS, and I got charged for them.

Apple need to split iMessage from sms, instead of rolling them in the same app, that way you know your in iMessage, and you know when your in sms.

Why apple have decided to leave them in the same app is a mystery.

Sort it out Apple.

Nov 21, 2011 2:26 PM in response to Trevor Cole

I had that problem today with my husband... luckily, after much trial & error, resolved it... we both signed out (apple id) from Settings»Messages... Turned off the iMessages feature... Reset the iPhones... turned on iMessage BUT did NOT use the apple ID (just the phone number) then I went to msg app and deleted all the SMS msgs uptil the last successful iMsg... it worked like a charm... Hope this doesn't happen again. :(

Dec 6, 2011 1:51 AM in response to Trevor Cole

I am experiencing the same problem. Turning off SMS does indeed disable the ability to sent text to anyone without an iPhone, you may think it has been sent but it is not received. The way that the contact has been entered as either iphone or mobile makes no difference. Come on Apple, sort this issue, as at the moment I think you are contravening advertising standards.

Dec 29, 2011 8:22 AM in response to Trevor Cole

these answers are wrong. It is normal for some iMessages to be sent as texts. The "send as SMS" function only happens when then iMessage fails. This will happen if the other iPhone is off. If they are on a CDMA network like sprint or Verizon it will also happen if they are on the phone and not connected to wifi. If you leave "send as SMS" on they will get the message during their phone call. If you turn it off they won't get it until they hang up.

Why is my iMessage being sent as a text message?

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