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Level 1

24 points

IOS 10 Force iMessage to send as Text Message

In IOS 10, you can no longer press and hold your pending iMessage and get a screen that pops up and says "Send as Text Message" now a bubble pops up with a question mark, thumbs up/down, etc.

When I am in and out of service it can take several minutes for an iMessage to figure out it cannot send. It is extremely inconvenient when i am in bad service areas, which when traveling can be often. I know you can turn off iMessage in settings, but i do not want to go back and forth constantly, i just want to be able to quickly get my message out as a text message for just one message... so inconvenient that this option has been removed.

When i am in bad service, the blue bar at the top will stay at 80% for 5-10 minutes or longer. Please Apple stop removing features...

iPhone 6, iOS 10, iMessage Text Message

Posted on Sep 20, 2016 4:33 PM

Best reply

Systerbjorn

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Jan 5, 2017 11:10 AM

This might not be such a useful post, but I've actually forced iOS 10 to send an iMessage as a text message. I'm not sure exactly how I've accomplished this, but here is what I've done and eventually got it to work:

1) Type the message and press send as usual. The message goes out as an iMessage.

2) Double tap on the blue message bubble and the weird menu with hearts and thumbs up and down pops up (what's that about, by the way..?).

3) Activate one of the symbols. Doesn't appear to matter which one.

4) Here comes the more peculiar part; tap frantically on the message (or on the weird icon), sometimes it seems to work better if one also shakes the phone in frustration. Eventually, somehow, a menu pops up with the alternative "Send as SMS".

So, the functionality is obviously still there. It's just not as obvious how to find it as things used to be on the iPhone.

If anyone has figured out how step 4 is actually supposed to be achieved, feel free to correct me. :)

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24 replies

Dec 7, 2016 6:13 AM in response to gracespop

My kids are constantly running out of data, forcing us to use SMS if we want to reach them. Going to Settings to make the change is a major PITA. PLEASE APPLE! Your UX is suffering.

Dec 14, 2016 7:17 PM in response to CeeB1

I dont know if everyone has found this yet but I just checked and this is still possible in iOS 10.2. Or they have added it back.

sjly

Level 1

4 points

Dec 15, 2016 4:49 AM in response to CeeB1

Agreed, this is a major backward step (removing easy access to send as SMS). We gained the fun and frippery of message effects, but lost something important that is needed to get urgent messages through when the sender has no data. The same change means it is also no longer possible to select/copy partial text from a previous message - this is also something I used to use a lot. It is painful to copy an entire message and then delete the bits you don't want.

This needs fixing!

iheechee

Level 1

7 points

Dec 21, 2016 4:18 PM in response to atrain2338

No, it is not. I just tried because I have a friend who has an iPad at home (so we mostly communicate through messages app) but when we are on our way I need to send her an sms because she has a not-smartphone with her.

It is really important to let people choose. Not everybody has all his devices from Apple. Switching messages off and on *****. I don't want to get a pop-up telling me about this on all my other devices every time.

iheechee

Level 1

7 points

Dec 21, 2016 4:35 PM in response to CeeB1

this probably works:

go into messages, create "new message" (the paper icon with the pen on the upper right) and enter the phone number right of "To:". Ignore all recommendations in the pop-up, just push "return". The number will be replaced by the name of the recipient, but in green color.

Jan 5, 2017 8:57 PM in response to iheechee

Nope does not work in 10.2. :-(

Geoffc15

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2017 7:25 AM in response to sjly

Switch Wifi off

Go into to settings and switch mobile data off

Now you can hold the bubble text and select send as SMS

Not ideal but does work

Geoffc15

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2017 7:28 AM in response to iheechee

On your iphone

Switch Wifi off

Go into to settings and switch mobile data off

Now you can hold the bubble text and select send as SMS

Not ideal but does work

Jul 4, 2017 11:06 PM in response to nosi9wrx

THIS ACTUALLY WORKS

Go onto messages and send a text to someone. Straightaway after, hold it and press send as text message before it says the 'delivered' sign. This works on IOS 10.3.2

IOS 10 Force iMessage to send as Text Message