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aziatiklover

macrumors 68030
Jul 12, 2011
2,704
269
8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
I see, that seems like a pain! :(
Didn't know any part of the world would do that to their users, seems silly!

But you can use either number or mail or both to receive iMessages at. Have you tried both by adding the second?




You can only do the opposite, but there is a way around it, if you don't want a charge then turn the phone into flight mode and turn on wifi and send a message to make sure you are not getting charged.

NP.
well it works fine for me! I was quoting some user in here about imessage not working in china.
 

everdown

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2007
7
0
iMessage works fine in China. I use it every day...

Yep. It works for me as well here in Beijing. Occasionally, I get the green text bubble instead of the imessage bubble, but most often it just means there is a problem with my network (wifi/3g) connection. Nothing that a power cycle hasn't been able to fix. Though, I do have a friend here in the city who has a Chinese iPhone 4S, but iMessage doesn't work with him so...
 

rdx2012

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2012
1
0
iMessage - International SMS

I have been billed for SMS i sent to US from Australia which showed up on my iPhone as iMessage (blue bubble). My Phone and SMS Carrier (Optus ##@$ers) said that SMS may have gone from my phone as iMessage but may not have been received as iMessage (Sounds like loads of rubbish).
Well point is it may depends a lot on your service provider. Try few message and see if in your next bill you are getting charged for it. if not well and good. if you are better use apps like 'VIBER' or 'Whatsapp'. Other person must also have those apps on their smartphone.



Then using anything against the internet would not work as its basically the same thing.

I'm guessing he hasn't enabled iMessage in the settings..
 

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
I live in China and iMessage doe not work for me, at least it does not work internationally. Everything leaves as SMS.

I spent 13 hours in Beijing on my way to thailand and the Philippines and iMessage worked just fine, I've never had a problem sending iMessages from ANYWHERE in the world
 

aug13

macrumors newbie
Jul 31, 2014
1
0
The cellphone number I have is correct and it won't work. Should I try using the email address?
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,504
12,590
The cellphone number I have is correct and it won't work. Should I try using the email address?
You can try. Are you sure whoever you're trying to contact has an iOS device and has iMessage enabled in the first place?

Keep in mind, international cellphone numbers must formatted as follows in order to work (without the greater than/less than symbols):

+<country code><area code><phone number>
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,180
17,717
Florida, USA
I wouldn't be surprised if China blocked iMessage, since it is encrypted and the Chinese government has no way to eavesdrop on the messages.

The Chinese government doesn't trust its citizens, in fact, it's the other way around, they are ridiculously paranoid and thus demand to be able to spy on everything, everyone, and censor anything on a whim. This hurts people who are just trying to communicate securely. I feel badly for the Chinese who have to deal with this all the time. :(

SMS is trivial for the government to eavesdrop on, so that's why it's allowed. But you will likely have to pay for SMS to and from China.

You might try using newer services that the Chinese government might not have blocked yet, like Telegram.
 

stevejobz

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2014
47
0
when i went overseas my imessage worked and it was amazing to have it i didnt need to buy sms package or minutes or anything when i had wifi it was good enough or it just used from my data package i bought like 300mb and it was enough for like a month.
 

shotts56

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2008
391
64
Scotland
iMessage works fine in China. I use it every day...

It worked fine for me too in China when I was there last year, I was able to imessage my wife back in the UK no problem at all. I was using a local China Telecom SIM card though, rather than my own one from home. Maybe that had something to do with it.
 

chupachup

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2013
487
2
Just curious if I (living in the U.S.) can send SMS and MMS via iMessage for free to a friend in the U.K.

Yes of course.

Think of it like WhatsApp or MSN Messenger. If 2 people have an iOS device, they can imessage. Location doesn't matter. All chat apps work the same way.

----------

I wouldn't be surprised if China blocked iMessage, since it is encrypted and the Chinese government has no way to eavesdrop on the messages.

The Chinese government doesn't trust its citizens, in fact, it's the other way around, they are ridiculously paranoid and thus demand to be able to spy on everything, everyone, and censor anything on a whim. This hurts people who are just trying to communicate securely. I feel badly for the Chinese who have to deal with this all the time. :(

SMS is trivial for the government to eavesdrop on, so that's why it's allowed. But you will likely have to pay for SMS to and from China.

You might try using newer services that the Chinese government might not have blocked yet, like Telegram.

I think the only way to do that is for them to sell iphones without an sms app.
 

hovscorpion12

macrumors 68030
Sep 12, 2011
2,672
2,638
USA
iMesssage works with all iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch running iOS 7+. iMessage also works on Mac OSX 10.8+. iMessage does not care about national or international. All iMessage cares about is a phone number or email.
 

1rottenapple

macrumors 601
Apr 21, 2004
4,706
2,721
Yes!

Been traveling to ecuador and south east Asia. I use my email as the sender and received for iMessages so that my contacts don't get new phone numbers from me since I get a sim from each new country. Great way to keep in touch and love iMessage. It's definitely a great apple feature since everyone I text had iMessage.
 

l0renz

macrumors 6502
Aug 13, 2012
288
9
Just curious if I (living in the U.S.) can send SMS and MMS via iMessage for free to a friend in the U.K.

Your carrier will charge you only for cellular data, if you are not connected to Wi-Fi. SMS and MMS are completely other services and do not require internet.
 
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