I'm about to travel to Taiwan and I'm going to bring my iPhone as my camera. Question is, is it possible for people to text me in the States using iMessage and WiFi? When I turned on Airplane mode and turned on WiFi, it said that airplane mode must be off. What do I have to enable/disable to get iMessage to work overseas without being hit with roaming charges. Can people still message me using a phone number if they're in the States?
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.
International travelling and iMessage
- Thread starter calviin
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
iMessage will work in Airplane mode + wifi on. No need to worry about roaming charges if you are on wifi.
You will only be able to text folks to/from folks with iMessage.
I just did this in Germany a few weeks ago.
It won't work because Airplane Mode means all radio transmitters in the phone are deactivated - including wifi! It's meant to allow you go browse your phone without interfering with aircraft electronics - hence Airplane mode.
you can test this whenever you're connected to a wifi network by simply enabling Airplane mode and watching your wifi connection turn off.
It won't work because Airplane Mode means all radio transmitters in the phone are deactivated - including wifi! It's meant to allow you go browse your phone without interfering with aircraft electronics - hence Airplane mode.
you can test this whenever you're connected to a wifi network by simply enabling Airplane mode and watching your wifi connection turn off.
Yes but you can enable WiFi after you've enabled Airplane Mode.
You can also turn off Airplane Mode and just disable cellular data, so you can keep on getting texts and calls (though you'll be charged even for incoming calls when you're roaming).
You're right, my apologies! It seems you can re-enable wifi after entering Airplane mode - never thought of trying that.
I'd just take out the SIM and call it a day. Or you can go turn off the various switches, either way works.
Same here.
Take out the sim to make sure you're not pulling any data by accident and use it as an ipod touch and you can still use imessages and facetime on wifi.
Correct me if I'm wrong but when changing SIMS and activating imessage isnt confirmation sent between apple and you carrier over the phone network?
The reason I say this is if you swap SIMs around when travelling and say you main SIM doesnt have roaming, you may not be able to reactivate imessage to it if it can't get a phone signal.
The reason I say this is if you swap SIMs around when travelling and say you main SIM doesnt have roaming, you may not be able to reactivate imessage to it if it can't get a phone signal.