cquick7

Q: Send sms via iMac to someone that also uses iMessage

My friend used to have an iPhone (doesn’t anymore), and we would use iMessage using our phone numbers.  He still uses iMessage on his iPad and Macbook Pro using his email, but I can't send an sms message to him from my mac. It just defaults to iMessage and sends it to his email.  I receive sms messages from him on my mac, but can’t send sms to him.  Is there a way to force send an sms instead of iMessage to someone without removing his email address from the contact?  My iPhone is paired to my Mac, and I can sms to other non iPhone users just fine from the computer. 

 

Anyone know if there is a way to do this without creating two separate contacts?

 

My iPhone is on iOS 8.4.1.  And my Mac is using OS X Yosemite 10.10.5

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 13, 2015 8:03 PM

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Q: Send sms via iMac to someone that also uses iMessage

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  • by sberman,

    sberman sberman Sep 13, 2015 9:58 PM in response to cquick7
    Level 8 (39,912 points)
    Sep 13, 2015 9:58 PM in response to cquick7

    Your friend needs to de-register his iMessage phone number.  Only iPhone numbers can be used with iMessage:

    Deregister iMessage: Frequently Asked Questions - Apple Support

     

    https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Sep 14, 2015 12:58 PM in response to cquick7
    Level 9 (73,173 points)
    Applications
    Sep 14, 2015 12:58 PM in response to cquick7

    Hi,

     

    That's odd as the iPhone has to be on the same LAN for SMS Forwarding (Text Forwarding) to work.

    If there is no iPhone it cannot be a conduit for the sending of SMS from the Mac  (the SMS items are sent to the iPhone over the LAN and then via the Carrier to the other person).

     

    Basically the Mac passes the SMS to the iPhone and the iPhones sends it via the carrier.

     

    Having said that Messages using an AIM account can send SMS to an iPhone (or any other phone) but only in the United States.

     

    You have to have an AIM account in Messages.

    The receiving Party has to be in the United States (Their carrier also needs to be on the AIM list)

    Then you can add their phone number (with a +1 for the country code) as if it were a Buddy to the Buddy list.  The item would look like this " +1234567890 "

    Although it shows as Off Line I do have the above set us a Buddy - you get an automated response it is not a valid number.

    Screen Shot 2015-09-14 at 20.54.59.png

     

    If his Contact Card has the new phone Number on it then when you enter his name in the "To" field you should be able to select the SMS option.

     

    However it can be very difficult to get your Messages app to recognise something is not longer an iMessages option such as switching a SIM card between phones when one was an iPhone and used in iMessages.

    As mentioned de-registering it will help.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:58 p.m.      Monday; September 14, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     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