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I turned off iMessage and I can't send an sms text. It says that iMessage must be turned on

IM trying to send text messages with imessage being turned off and it won't send. I get the error message saying "Cannot send message, iMessage must be turned on". Can someone help and tell me how to fix this where I will be able to send text msg with iMessage being turned off/deactivated. Thank you

iPhone 5s, iOS 8

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 6:40 AM

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Posted on Oct 16, 2014 8:57 AM

If you're trying to send SMS messages, you don't need iMessage turned on. However, you do need to have your account properly set up with your carrier to send SMS. So, call them and find out what's wrong.

35 replies

Oct 17, 2014 7:33 AM in response to Louuis

Louuis wrote:


Classic. The first two users know nothing about iMessage and yet go ahead and gave their respective firm answers. As the user base of iPhone grows, I guess this is what we get.


I'm sure the original poster would be very pleased if you provided a correct answer in addition to critiquing the answers already given. Best of luck.

Oct 17, 2014 8:27 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

You are actually the third person in reply and of course not among those I was teasing..

Unfortunately I don't have an answer for the OP and to be honest I am experiencing trouble myself with all sorts of weird iMessage defects and hiccups between phones with different versions of iOS. Also I once had the exact thing that op has and cannot remember how I solved it or whether it was solved at all.

Too many factors. I am not able to conclude at the moment.


That being said, criticising on answers that are not constructive and giving one are separate things. Again, I was not referring to you in any case.

Oct 17, 2014 9:44 AM in response to Louuis

Louuis wrote:


You are actually the third person in reply and of course not among those I was teasing..

Teasing? I realize I was not the target of your post. I also know I don't insult people who are trying to help. I will correct answers I believe to be incorrect but I try very hard not to discourage a genuine desire to help others.


People often have difficulty troubleshooting messaging issues as there can be a lot of confusion over terminology. For example, are you having difficulty with just iMessage or also with SMS? Do the people you're messaging have non-iphones but used to have iPhones? Also, what troubleshooting steps have you taken?

Oct 17, 2014 11:41 AM in response to Timrock20

I just called Verizon about a related issue which should solve your problem and there was a very simple fix which had to do with the default settings on the phone. I could not send texts when I turned off data. The default has send as SMS to off and that's what you need to send texts when your data is turned off. With the settings below, you can use imessage when your data is on and SMS when your data is off. In your case, if you just want to turn imessage off, once you turn on SMS, you can still send out texts.


Go to Settings---Messages----turn on imessage (if not already on-you can turn it off after the next step if you want)---turn on SEND AS SMS

Oct 17, 2014 4:54 PM in response to RealistView

RealistView wrote:


Go to Settings---Messages----turn on imessage (if not already on-you can turn it off after the next step if you want)---turn on SEND AS SMS

That setting has nothing to do with sending SMS in general. All it does is cause the phone, if it is unable to send a message as iMessage to try to send it again as an SMS. If your SMS is not configured properly on your account, no amount of toggling that switch will fix the issue.

Dec 25, 2014 10:59 AM in response to Logan1031

Yes, your idea worked with the additional step of turning off my phone and then turning it on again! When I just deleted the conversation and tried to start a new one it still told me that I needed to turn on iMessage. But now that I restarted my phone, I can send texts to people who I formally sent iMessages to. It's rather odd that I've previously sent someone texts, then iMessages (in the same thread), but you can't switch back so easily. Thanks again!

Dec 25, 2014 11:09 AM in response to Korukat

Korukat


For some reason I have had the same experience as you - we all have iPhones in our household - and yet (even though in the same general zip code and same carrier) one person "loses" their iMessage temporarily and the texts go as SMS (green)

That conversation almost never reverts back to iMessage

However if another conversation is started - in my experience - in as little as 30 minutes after the last exchange - voila - it is the nice blue iMessage bubbles again

We all have unlimited text so we really do not care that much but it remains a curiosity


I am told the iMessage flows through Apple servers and we have theorized it is something to do with their responsiveness and availability at any given time.

Dec 25, 2014 12:02 PM in response to ManSinha

ManSinha,

Your theory makes sense to me. It's true that our iMessages flow through Apple's servers, so perhaps when that is not available it will go through as a text, if that option is turned on. Thanks for sharing your experiences and theory. I wish we had the option of using iMessage with WiFi but text when only cellular data is available. I have unlimited data and unlimited texts, but I know lots of people who have limited data plans and iMessage can use quite a lot of GBs, even w/o photos or video. Texts compress the heck out of photos and video, so their resolution is not very good vs iMessage. I guess there are tradeoffs for most things.

I turned off iMessage and I can't send an sms text. It says that iMessage must be turned on

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