How do I get imessage to send SMS texts to non iphone users?

iMessage is Apple's proprietary message service. It is only available on iOS 5 and later devices iPod, iphone, ipad or a Mac running Mountain Lion or later. See this wikipedia aritcle and its references.

Hi,

On the iPhone in Settings > Messages have you got the SMS option On ?

10:08 PM Sunday; October 7, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ah, sorry, misread your original post. I thought you were trying to send an iMessage SMS to a non-iPhone. So, what you want to do is send an SMS using Messages for Mac to a non-iPhone/iMessage user?

AFAIK, again, Messages for Mac uses iMessage as a default protocol. I did look up a could Macworld articles for deep dives into Messages. They are all either talking about iMessage (iOS to Mac only) or SMS using AIM.

See Up Close with Messages

Messages works just fine as a client for the standard IM networks, too—AIM, Yahoo, and Jabber (and, by extension, Google Talk). As noted, it also supports SMS messaging; you just type the phone number in that To field. (You must have an AIM account enabled to do so.)

Hi,

Historically iChat could send SMS messages via an AIM Account.

Messages can still do this even though the Menu item no longer shows.

There are some caveats.

1) The computer has to be set as If it is in the United States (System Preferences > Text and Language > Region)

2) The Phone HAS to be in the United States

3) It has to be on a carrier that supports AIM SMS Forwarding.

You add the phone number as if it were an AIM Buddy with a leading + 1 (As in +1234567890)

I have also seen vague-ish info on whether the iMessages side will SMS to other phones.

The iMessages side can send iMessages though the Phone carrier either To or From the Phone when it is not on a WiFi network.

Generally the computer will be on a Network and is using the iPhone Number as an Alias to Send or Receive sync items.

There is no evidence it is using the Service Provider for the iPhone to send the messages at all.

There is nothing in Messages help about SMS

10:46 PM Sunday; October 7, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)

Make sure you're using AIM. I send my mother SMS messages quite often from Messages. So often, I added a "chat" account in Contacts for her to use AIM and her phone number "+15551234567" of a type "AIM".

I forgot I had done that for frequent SMS, again, using AIM. I tried entering the format for another number I have never sent an SMS to via Messages. Lo, after hitting [enter], the number changes to iMessage protocol, turns red, and says I can't send it 'cause it's not an iMessage.

I click the dropdown arrow on the name (It's a name since it's a number in Contacts), and see about middle of the way down an AIM chat option with the same number I just typed, including the appropriate "+1" etc. See screenshot below. Sadly, you don't get the full effect. One of those iMessage lines near the top is a phone number identical to the AIM number...

I also did a random number I just made up, but typing in "+15557852122". This didn't result in a name (not in my Contacts), but I still got the dropdown arrow, I still see an AIM option. I assume it would attempt to send an SMS.

Hi,

As I said the Menu Item has disappeared in Messages but you can still get it to send SMS Messages via an AIM Account to a "Buddy" that is the phone number with a leading + 1 for the country code (although it was never rolled out world wide).

Uploaded with Skitch!

The Menu items in the Buddies menu (This is from iChat 5) do not appear unless the computer ius set to be in the United States.

They don't appear at All in Messages (whether the computer is set or not.)

This Info card to show it has numbers

Uploaded with Skitch!

I see you have eventually got there with willar's post.

For the points

8:21 PM Monday; October 8, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

According to Message Help inside iMessage you must have an iPhone with iOS 8 installed and both your phone and mac must be using the same account.

From my understanding of how this work. Your computer is not sending the message. Your iPhone is acting as a relay. so when you send a SMS from your Mac what it does is send that information to your phone ( via iCloud) then your phone sends the sms. iCloud just syncs all of your messages on all devices.

Hope this helps

Hi Marshall,

Please note whilst your info may be correct now it will not work for these posters two years ago when they were using Mountain Lion and Messages 7 or 7.0.1

It still does not apply to these versions even if the iPhone is updated to iOS 8

Messages 7.x.x remain with the old iChat method (the item was in iChat 3 through 6 as shown by my pic above).

That is you must have an AIM account.

The phone number MUST be in the United States on specific Carriers and you need to add the phone Number like it was a Buddy to the Buddy list whilst adding a leading +1 to the number.

9:34 pm Friday; October 17, 2014