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Dumb Question but... iMessage & Verizon

HappyDude20

HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,688
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Los Angeles, Ca
So my family and I send each other a ton of iMessages daily. Whether I be handwritten drawing, photos, videos, audio messages you name it.

I'm wondering if this all counts against my data.

So all my
Family member and I are on Verizon and I know Verizon does free vzw to vzw messages but this is iMessage and I know iOS to iOS messaging has always been free but I'm wondering if this eats up any of my data.
 
HappyDude20 said:
So my family and I send each other a ton of iMessages daily. Whether I be handwritten drawing, photos, videos, audio messages you name it.

I'm wondering if this all counts against my data.

So all my
Family member and I are on Verizon and I know Verizon does free vzw to vzw messages but this is iMessage and I know iOS to iOS messaging has always been free but I'm wondering if this eats up any of my data.
Click to expand...

Yes you need data but it's a very small minute when it comes SMS n mms
 
As far as I'm aware pics & videos when not on WiFi will use your data. Even if the actual messages did count (which they don't) you'd have to send hundreds of thousands or more to notice a difference.
 
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I feel like send a 1mb-7mb photo, live photo or even those quick 7 second videos that disappear after you send them would all add up

If I send one 5mb photo to 3 other family members, does it not also use data on their end to have to download and receive the photo, thereby multiplying data use?

And I also send a ton of those videos that disappear in messages to my gf, like at least 4 each back and forth every other hour-ish.

I feel like I may get to half a gig a month or so just with sending these photo and video messages (and audio too but I understand how little data audio uses)
 
HappyDude20 said:
I feel like I may get to half a gig a month or so just with sending these photo and video messages (and audio too but I understand how little data audio uses)
Click to expand...
you can check for that under:

Settings --> Cellular --> System Services --> Messaging Services
 
HappyDude20 said:
So my family and I send each other a ton of iMessages daily. Whether I be handwritten drawing, photos, videos, audio messages you name it.

I'm wondering if this all counts against my data.

So all my
Family member and I are on Verizon and I know Verizon does free vzw to vzw messages but this is iMessage and I know iOS to iOS messaging has always been free but I'm wondering if this eats up any of my data.
Click to expand...
That would be a great question for a VZW rep.
 
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Yes, it counts against your data. Do you have access to Wifi? Use that and it won't use your data when you iMessage. My family and I just use WiFi as much as we can then there is no cellular usage when doing iMessages.
 
BigMcGuire said:
Yes, it counts against your data. Do you have access to Wifi? Use that and it won't use your data when you iMessage. My family and I just use WiFi as much as we can then there is no cellular usage when doing iMessages.
Click to expand...
According to whom? Every source I've ever read says that MMS (via text messages--green bubbles) do NOT use data while iMessages (blue bubbles) and other apps use data.
 
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willmtaylor said:
According to whom? Every source I've ever read says that MMS (via text messages--green bubbles) do NOT use data while iMessages (blue bubbles) and other apps use data.
Click to expand...

You're correct I should have clarified. Blue uses data and green does not. This is correct. You're right. I assumed iMessage = blue only. Since I rarely green blob (all family has apple) I forgot about the green blobs :).
 
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BigMcGuire said:
You're correct I should have clarified. Blue uses data and green does not. This is correct. You're right. I assumed iMessage = blue only. Since I rarely green blob (all family has apple) I forgot about the green blobs :).
Click to expand...
The green blobs are ugly. ;-)

I have several group texts and there's generally 1-2 people who don't have iPhones and "ruin" it for everyone. Hah
 
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BigMcGuire said:
You're correct I should have clarified. Blue uses data and green does not. This is correct. You're right. I assumed iMessage = blue only. Since I rarely green blob (all family has apple) I forgot about the green blobs :).
Click to expand...

Wrong.
0ec7427c2bbfcfdc51eed84fd13ee1c1.jpg
 
ANTAWNM26 said:
Wrong.
0ec7427c2bbfcfdc51eed84fd13ee1c1.jpg
Click to expand...
What does that have to do with data being used?
[doublepost=1478965552][/doublepost]
Thor_1 said:
I still thought they would use data if they included pictures.
Click to expand...
Data is used for that, but the carriers generally don't charge/account for that data as it's part of the MMS message charge itself (either if you are paying separately per message, have some package with certain number of messages, or have a plan that has unlimited messaging).
 
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Just confirmed with VZW chat rep and MMS FAQ page: if on New Verizon or More Everything plans, MMS text messages do not count against data.

However, iMessage is different and has always utilized data.
 
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iMessage barely uses data. For the entire month, I've only used 143 mb.

2c2400b9179472eb212d68140aa62e58.png


I guess if you want to be super frugal with data, you could turn off iMessage and force everything over MMS/SMS.
 
AutoUnion39 said:
iMessage barely uses data. For the entire month, I've only used 143 mb.

2c2400b9179472eb212d68140aa62e58.png


I guess if you want to be super frugal with data, you could turn off iMessage and force everything over MMS/SMS.
Click to expand...
But that is your usage. Does not apply to others. You could have sent 500 pics or zero. Others mileage will vary.
 
AutoUnion39 said:
iMessage barely uses data. For the entire month, I've only used 143 mb.

2c2400b9179472eb212d68140aa62e58.png


I guess if you want to be super frugal with data, you could turn off iMessage and force everything over MMS/SMS.
Click to expand...
I agree, but how many photos and videos have you sent?

My anecdotal experience:
We had a kid on Monday, so I've been sending tons of pics and texts via iMessage. However, I'm frequently on wifi. With 10 days left in my billing cycle, my messages have consumed a grand total of 78MB. :-/ Pretty insignificant.
 
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