Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Do you keep iMessage enabled, or turn it off?
- Thread starter TonyTouch
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I leave it on, but I can certainly see why people would turn it off. In my experience, it is usually slower than regular SMS, sometimes to the point of being useless when I'm trying to get a message through quickly.
----------
When I upgraded to iOS 6 on my iP4 I had to turn it back on in Settings (and I think I had to enter my Apple password again).
----------
When I upgraded to iOS 6 on my iP4 I had to turn it back on in Settings (and I think I had to enter my Apple password again).
Yeah of that .200 data i'm pretty sure that less then .050 of it is actually attributed to iMessage. If you are worried about .050 worth of data you really shouldn't have a smartphone.
Mines always on despite having unlimited txt the lack of character limits is nice when having convos with other iMessage users.
Leave it on.
No reason not to use it.
9/10 people I text message on a regular basis (like once a day) have iPhones so that is nice.
Shame I cannot get ride of my unlimited texting because that 1 person is someone who I text a lot. Grrrr.
No reason not to use it.
9/10 people I text message on a regular basis (like once a day) have iPhones so that is nice.
Shame I cannot get ride of my unlimited texting because that 1 person is someone who I text a lot. Grrrr.
3 lines all with iPhones. iMessage was so bad we got unlimited texting and turned it off for good. iMessage failed to send repeatedly no matter how we were connected. No problems now, messages go right through. No more messages stopping at 90% and then failing to send. Maybe it's our area but regular texts work better.
Most of the texts I send are to other iPhone users--and now that I have my new MacBook Pro, I love using iMessage on that too--so it is always on for me. 
I refuse to pay AT&T's outrageous texting prices, so I always use iMessage. In fact, I only text with people with an iPhone, such as my wife and father. My sister doesn't have an iPhone so she gets no texts. My nieces and most my friends have iPhones as well, so it is working out well just using iMessage.
Leave it on at all times.
Most of my friends have an iPhone as well so we are always using iMessage instead of regular texts. My texts count went from about 2,000 to 300 a month because of iMessage.
Plus when you send a video through iMessage it goes through full, HD quality and not choppy like wen you send through the carrier.
Most of my friends have an iPhone as well so we are always using iMessage instead of regular texts. My texts count went from about 2,000 to 300 a month because of iMessage.
Plus when you send a video through iMessage it goes through full, HD quality and not choppy like wen you send through the carrier.
I'm not ill-informed, I think you misunderstood.
I never questioned that. I said that I don't want that functionality. You see a clear benefit in it. I would find that annoying!
I don't know anyone who has an iPhone with anything less than unlimited texts or an obscene amount more than they actually need. The point was that iMessage gains me nothing in this regard. I'm not saving money and neither are my friends/family.
It's a feature that relies on far more hardware, software and services to work correctly than SMS does. In my experience, iMessage just fails too often. It's not designed how I want it to work. I want to customise what happens when it fails to send a message. I don't want it to wait 5 minutes and then try an SMS. I just want it to work first time.
If I could choose to receive iMessages, but not send them then I'd probably do that.
While I think this is a clear benefit, it's not one I'm bothered by. I send pictures as emails now, purely because everyone I know has a low data allowance. They don't download my images unless they're on Wi-Fi or their computer. I'm not sure how pictures work on iMessage (I don't know if they download automatically), but with MMS they wouldn't come out of their allowance - so I don't have that concern.
Really? Most of my friends with smart phones have limited SMS plans. Usually in the 250 to 1000. Anything we can do not to send SMS's is huge. Heck most of my friends that have Android phones now use Whatsapp to communicate with me so they don't have to use their SMS allowance.
That seems a little silly. SMS relies on software and hardware services as well (it's called your cell phone company). Ever been without service? I have. As long as wifi is available I can still send an iMessage.
SMS is an incredibly simple system. Nothing that goes over TCP/IP (like iMessage) can ever be described as "simple".
In this country, cell phone plans usually include voice, SMS and data. They're not separated out. If you buy an iPhone, all of the networks either include unlimited texts or an allowance measured in the thousands.
I use iMessage and don't have SMS at all on my iPhone plan. Why would you want to pay a bunch of money for something that's included for free. iMessage also works great on the ipad and Mac. I can talk to folks from whatever device I'm on. Makes sense. I've never understood why anyone would pay for SMS.
As I said, it's not possible to get an iPhone without SMS included here. If you buy a rolling contract, those usually include texts too - often unlimited.
Then 99% of the people I text don't use iPhones! My bill arrived today, I sent several hundred messages - only 14 were to people with an iPhone.
Even my mother has unlimited texts and she only pays £7 ($11) a month!
I leave it on.
About 75% of my friends are using iPhones, and iMessage just works for all of us. So much so that I'm able to go completely without a text messaging plan. The few texts I do send at the casual texting rate is still far less than the $20 a month I'd be spending on the only texting plan (unlimited) AT&T currently offers.
I've got WiFi at home and at work, so data usage has never been a problem for me. I kinda like being able to text without AT&T ever touching the message.
Being able to send/receive messages on my Macs and iPad is a nice thing, too. The ability to text using my computer, through my cell phone number, has been something I've wanted for years, and this is about as close as I've gotten to a seamless solution.
On top of that, it's just better: no character limit, I know when the message has been delivered and read, videos and pictures aren't downsampled, and I don't have to worry about whether my friends on Sprint are going to receive my messages hours from now thanks to Sprint's dodgy SMS platform.
Anyway, it all depends on your usage habits. Obviously some people (as shown on this thread) don't want this newfangled functionality and don't want ti forced on them, and that's fine. But I personally see no reason to turn iMessage off, ever.
About 75% of my friends are using iPhones, and iMessage just works for all of us. So much so that I'm able to go completely without a text messaging plan. The few texts I do send at the casual texting rate is still far less than the $20 a month I'd be spending on the only texting plan (unlimited) AT&T currently offers.
I've got WiFi at home and at work, so data usage has never been a problem for me. I kinda like being able to text without AT&T ever touching the message.
Being able to send/receive messages on my Macs and iPad is a nice thing, too. The ability to text using my computer, through my cell phone number, has been something I've wanted for years, and this is about as close as I've gotten to a seamless solution.
On top of that, it's just better: no character limit, I know when the message has been delivered and read, videos and pictures aren't downsampled, and I don't have to worry about whether my friends on Sprint are going to receive my messages hours from now thanks to Sprint's dodgy SMS platform.
Anyway, it all depends on your usage habits. Obviously some people (as shown on this thread) don't want this newfangled functionality and don't want ti forced on them, and that's fine.
But I personally see no reason to turn iMessage off, ever.
I'm not saying its a ton but if you're on a 300 MB plan like some users are then every little bit counts and I can't argue with somebody for turning it off.
The only downside is that another company has access to all your texts/picture messages in addition to your carrier and the recipient's carrier. Depending on how you feel about privacy - you might not want to use it.
If I didn't have a laptop with ML, I would turn it off. As I have ML on my laptop, I use iMessages so I can receive all messages sent to my phone number by an iDevice with iMessages on my laptop. Though with only 3 people having iDevices and using iMessages in my circle of friends, I'm not sure I'll leave iMessages on.
Most people have unlimited text/picture messaging so unless their friends are in the iCircle and they have non-Phone devices, it isn't exactly a breakthrough feature.
----------
Because only three of my friends have iDevices? The rest use SMS with Android/BB/other phones.
If I didn't have a laptop with ML, I would turn it off. As I have ML on my laptop, I use iMessages so I can receive all messages sent to my phone number by an iDevice with iMessages on my laptop. Though with only 3 people having iDevices and using iMessages in my circle of friends, I'm not sure I'll leave iMessages on.
Most people have unlimited text/picture messaging so unless their friends are in the iCircle and they have non-Phone devices, it isn't exactly a breakthrough feature.
----------
Because only three of my friends have iDevices? The rest use SMS with Android/BB/other phones.
delete
----------
complicated?
dont you just sign in with an user ID and password?
it wont appear on other devices if you dont have those signed into it.
personally i like it. its much faster than SMS and i like the fact that it is more encrypted. plus it falls back to SMS on none ios devices.. so it should be just as reliable as sms...because it uses that as a fallback
*** EDIT.. sorry saw you answered these exact questions above..
----------
i agree. I dont see how people say the only use iMessage. There are times when i dont have data service (very rare) and 3/4 my contacts dont use iphones.. obviously i prefer using iMessage.. but the majority of people dont use it
----------
complicated?
dont you just sign in with an user ID and password?
it wont appear on other devices if you dont have those signed into it.
personally i like it. its much faster than SMS and i like the fact that it is more encrypted. plus it falls back to SMS on none ios devices.. so it should be just as reliable as sms...because it uses that as a fallback
*** EDIT.. sorry saw you answered these exact questions above..
----------
i agree. I dont see how people say the only use iMessage. There are times when i dont have data service (very rare) and 3/4 my contacts dont use iphones.. obviously i prefer using iMessage.. but the majority of people dont use it
I leave it off.
I have unlimited texting, no other iOS devices, and most of my friends are on android so to me it's pointless.
Plus I know of people that do use it, and when trying to send a group message to non-iphone users the SMS they receive is just blank.
I have unlimited texting, no other iOS devices, and most of my friends are on android so to me it's pointless.
Plus I know of people that do use it, and when trying to send a group message to non-iphone users the SMS they receive is just blank.
Wow I never even fathomed there could be so much debate over whether or not to leave iMessage on. I just assumed the vast majority of people with iMessage capable devices use iMessage or at least have it on.
iMessage is worth it even if just for the ability to send long messages and full quality videos. I saw somewhere that BOTH parties have to be on wifi to send video, but that has definitely not been my experience.
I have a friend with a 200 mb data plan (which frankly is completely useless) and even she leaves iMessage on all the time. However, she usually keeps cellular data turned off.
iMessage is worth it even if just for the ability to send long messages and full quality videos. I saw somewhere that BOTH parties have to be on wifi to send video, but that has definitely not been my experience.
I have a friend with a 200 mb data plan (which frankly is completely useless) and even she leaves iMessage on all the time. However, she usually keeps cellular data turned off.
SMS supports very long messages, so that's not really a benefit of iMessage.
Videos is a good feature though.
You can do this?? I had no idea! Lol just got my first iPhone, the 5. I have a macbook air though. What app/program on the mac do you use to do this?