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LapsangSouchong

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2010
1,349
0
the burrows
iMessage is great when it works but it still needs a lot of improving. It works well on the phone but on the Mac it is far from perfect. A lot of the time it lags for me, fails to update the conversation. Messages need to be sent twice when sending after a long break.

Does anyone else have these problems? For me these occur every single time without failure.

I RARELY have any issues with iMessage on the mac. In fact, two folks sent me messages after I went to bed last night. They arrived on both my phone and my mac perfectly and were waiting for me when I woke up and turned on my mac.
 

eyespii

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2008
372
0
iMessage is great, but I've found that it's been a bit flaky - sometimes not delivering messages on time, or not syncing properly with my mac and iPad. Everyone in my family has an iPhone, but iMessage would constantly duplicate threads whenever anyone in the family would switch SIM cards (lots of international traveling). It became an absolute pain to use, so we all switched to LINE messaging. Seems to work much more flawlessly than iMessage, and has the bonus of having both a companion Mac and PC app!
 

Pharmscott

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2011
624
2
Sacramento, CA
I was thinking about getting unlimited texting until iMessage came out and I realized that two thirds of my friends and family have iPhones. I stuck with my 1500/$15 plan and should have downgraded to the 1000/$10 plan when I had the chance.

The text plan is not typically tied to your contract. You should be able to downgrade any time, right? Or, is the problem that they no longer offer the $10 plan?
 

vistadude

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2010
1,423
1
I don't like how imessage is can be sent from computers and ipods. I don't want it to turn into instant messaging or chatting, and don't want to get tons of messages from family and relatives. I have google talk and msn for that. I never respond to imessages that come from email addresses, even when I know the person.
 

big samm

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2008
1,508
341
It's also useful in the fact that it allows me to send messages in areas where Verizon has poor or no service by using wifi.

That's cool but what happens when someone without a iphone texts you?
#
 

CEmajr

macrumors 601
Dec 18, 2012
4,448
1,228
Charlotte, NC
That's cool but what happens when someone without a iphone texts you?
#

Well if I'm in an area with no service people wouldnt be able to text me at all otherwise. Probably 80% of my contacts use iPhones (all of the important ones do) so being able to get some texts is better than none at all.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
WhatsApp or Viber is better than iMessage because it is cross platform.

No, anything that requires you to beg your friends to install a new app is not really "better." I went though so many different programs and never got more than 3 or 4 people to sign up with any particular one, so I was left communicating with multiple programs...having to remember who was on which network.

Blech

The genius of iMessage is that not everyone had to use it. Just so long as some people did, it freed up my limited texts to use on the people who didn't use it. So it didn't matter that only half my friends had iPhones, by using iMessage with them it let me use those texts on my Android friends. It was really fantastic.

But...as has been said, it really just pushed the carriers to bundle in unlimited texts with almost all their plans, so it's really not all that necessary anymore. But it was a great idea at the time. Certainly much, much better than the previous plan of "just use a dozen different apps."
 

Davejprince

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2012
232
0
The Netherlands
I am using iMessage daily because a few people I am befriend with do have iPhones ( and iPads ) so it is a "huge deal" for me, altough I use Whatsapp alot for other device-friends.
 

pdxmatts

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2013
1,876
463
Portland, OR
The only problem I have with iMessage is that if you send an MMS it won't work over Wifi to non iPhone users. You have to use data to do that. Also, if you text people who are not iPhone users, you need a texting plan or WhatsApp
 
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Drag'nGT

macrumors 68000
Sep 20, 2008
1,781
80
The only problem I have with iMessage is that if you send an MMS it won't work over Wifi to non iPhone users. You have to use data to do that. Also, if you text people who are not iPhone users, you need a texting plan or WhatsApp

Every message on other devices work that way. You can thank the carriers and their billing departments for that, not Apple.

And I love iMessage too. So many people I know have iPhones and it just makes texting easy and means my grandfathered 1000 text plan is still over kill for me since I hardly use it.
 

pdxmatts

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2013
1,876
463
Portland, OR
Every message on other devices work that way. You can thank the carriers and their billing departments for that, not Apple.

And I love iMessage too. So many people I know have iPhones and it just makes texting easy and means my grandfathered 1000 text plan is still over kill for me since I hardly use it.

I have a T-Mobile account and ATT. I have always been able to MMS over Wifi with different phones platforms. So is it an ATT thing?
 

nburwell

macrumors 603
May 6, 2008
5,436
2,352
DE
The introduction of iMessage was huge for me since I was able to elminate the $20/month unlimited texting plan I have on AT&T and just pay per text. Today, with the exception of one friend, everyone has iPhone's, so I really on pay for the texts sent between myself and the one friend who still has an Android phone.
 

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
When iMessage came out in iOS 5, I remember thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal, especially if you had unlimited text messaging. Now I understand how smart Apple is by coming up with iMessage.
Apple's iMessage is a copy of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Decades of valuable communications supplied to corporations, and eventually the public BBM was the sole property of RIM.

The brilliance of Apple is to take a technology like that and convince their followers they made it "magic". Apple.... The Spin Masters :D
 

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
Apple's iMessage is a copy of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Decades of valuable communications supplied to corporations, and eventually the public BBM was the sole property of RIM.

The brilliance of Apple is to take a technology like that and convince their followers they made it "magic". Apple.... The Spin Masters :D

iMessage and BBM may be similar concepts but definitely not the same...iMessage works with a phone number and an email address whereas BBM uses a pin if I'm not mistaken?
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,741
5,171
192.168.1.1
Apple's iMessage is a copy of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Decades of valuable communications supplied to corporations, and eventually the public BBM was the sole property of RIM.

The brilliance of Apple is to take a technology like that and convince their followers they made it "magic". Apple.... The Spin Masters :D

Except it's not, really, as of iOS 5. While I will grant you that it is quite similar (i.e., received & read receipts, transmits as data versus SMS, etc.), BBM does not integrate with normal SMS. With iMessage, if you happen to text another iPhone user - even to its phone number - the software recognizes this and sends via iMessage. If the recipient isn't using an iPhone, it knows the difference and goes over standard SMS.

If you're sending messages to an iOS (but non-iPhone) user, then BBM and iMessage are very much alike... messages sent to/from a special address (PIN for BBM and iCloud ID for iMessage).

BBM didn't do this; SMS and BBM were compartmentalized in separate apps and you couldn't send from one to another.
 

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
it really just pushed the carriers to bundle in unlimited texts with almost all their plans, so it's really not all that necessary anymore. But it was a great idea at the time. Certainly much, much better than the previous plan of "just use a dozen different apps."

oh I disagree...iMesaage allows for FREE international texts...it's necessary
 

RenoG

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2010
1,275
59
Apple's iMessage is a copy of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Decades of valuable communications supplied to corporations, and eventually the public BBM was the sole property of RIM.

The brilliance of Apple is to take a technology like that and convince their followers they made it "magic". Apple.... The Spin Masters :D

It does what we users need it to do when communicating with others with iphones and we are happy with that. Why on earth would we care where the concept originally came from...
 

unlimitedx

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2010
635
0
The text plan is not typically tied to your contract. You should be able to downgrade any time, right? Or, is the problem that they no longer offer the $10 plan?

yes. at&t essentially eliminated tiered texting and offered unlimited or pay-go soon after imessages was announced

----------

I was thinking about getting unlimited texting until iMessage came out and I realized that two thirds of my friends and family have iPhones. I stuck with my 1500/$15 plan and should have downgraded to the 1000/$10 plan when I had the chance.

i had the 1000/$10 when iMessage came out. I really wished the $5 texting plan was offered at that time since I rarely go over 100/text a month these days
 

LapsangSouchong

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2010
1,349
0
the burrows
Apple's iMessage is a copy of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Decades of valuable communications supplied to corporations, and eventually the public BBM was the sole property of RIM.

The brilliance of Apple is to take a technology like that and convince their followers they made it "magic". Apple.... The Spin Masters :D
Yeah, no.
 

Pharmscott

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2011
624
2
Sacramento, CA
Gotcha. If you're close to 100 per month, you should try having no text plan and see how it goes. Even if you pay for a few texts, they're cheap and you may be money ahead versus the "big" text plan.
 
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