Permanently send text messages instead of iMessage to a phone number.

Hello.

If your friend is not using iMessage anymore (i.e. new non-Apple phone) but your phone keeps sending them messages as iMessage, your friend will have to de-register their iMessage. I'm assuming that if this is the case, your friend is not receiving any of your text messages.

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

This de-links their Apple ID from their phone number. If the above is not the case, there is no other way to stop your iPhone from sending messages as iMessage. You would have to select Send as Text Message every time.

Let me know if you need any more help 🙂

~Skunkman

d rosser wrote:

My friend still has an iPhone and I would still like to iMessage him but sometimes I do not have an Internet connection and need to text him. I was wondering if I had set up his contact wrong because I have other friends with iOS devices and can have one conversation for texts and one conversation for iMessages with them.

That is unusual to say the least - usually the iPhone to iPhone communication is default to iMessage and will switch to SMS (green) when no WiFi or data available - it says so as much right in settings - messages

So if your main concern is about texting in no internet (but existing cell call signal) areas I would not turn the iMessage off personally

They would need to unregister their cellular number from iMessage.