Option to turn on "Text Message Forwarding" does not appear

[camner]

I'm running iOS 8.1.1 on my iPhone 4S, which is explicitly supported by Apple for text-message forwarding. As you can see from the attached screenshot from the iPhone 4S, that option simply doesn't exist. On an iPhone 5S owned by another family member, Text Message Forwarding DOES appear and is right between the first switch (iMessage) and "Send Read Receipts."

I AM signed in to my iCloud account. And yes, I've tried powering off and back on the 4S.

I turned off and on iMessage in both the 4S and the 5S, and now NEITHER of the phone shows the "Text Message Forwarding" switch! Yikes!

Any ideas?

Update: I did a hard reset of both phones and the 5S now shows "Text Message Forwarding" as an option in settings, but the 4S still does not

 

[SanjeevRana]

I'm running iOS 8.1.1 on my iPhone 4S, which is explicitly supported by Apple for text-message forwarding. As you can see from the attached screenshot from the iPhone 4S, that option simply doesn't exist. On an iPhone 5S owned by another family member, Text Message Forwarding DOES appear and is right between the first switch (iMessage) and "Send Read Receipts."

I AM signed in to my iCloud account. And yes, I've tried powering off and back on the 4S.

I turned off and on iMessage in both the 4S and the 5S, and now NEITHER of the phone shows the "Text Message Forwarding" switch! Yikes!

Any ideas?

Update: I did a hard reset of both phones and the 5S now shows "Text Message Forwarding" as an option in settings, but the 4S still does not

If both the phones are using different Phone numbers under iMessage (even though emails are same), that option would not appear on one of them.

Its a feature that allows other iCloud devices (with non-phone capabilities) to send SMS via a device (phone with sim) using same iCloud/iMessage account.

If your 4S is without a SIM or its own number, then you can try turning iMessage off on both. Turn on iMessage on the 5 (assuming thats your primary phone), wait few seconds and then turn it on for 4S. Option to text forward would then appear under iPhone 5 and u should be able to enable it from there for the 4S. 4S will NOT show this option.

 

[Gav2k]

I'm running iOS 8.1.1 on my iPhone 4S, which is explicitly supported by Apple for text-message forwarding. As you can see from the attached screenshot from the iPhone 4S, that option simply doesn't exist. On an iPhone 5S owned by another family member, Text Message Forwarding DOES appear and is right between the first switch (iMessage) and "Send Read Receipts."

I AM signed in to my iCloud account. And yes, I've tried powering off and back on the 4S.

I turned off and on iMessage in both the 4S and the 5S, and now NEITHER of the phone shows the "Text Message Forwarding" switch! Yikes!

Any ideas?

Update: I did a hard reset of both phones and the 5S now shows "Text Message Forwarding" as an option in settings, but the 4S still does not

Turn iMessage off. Wait a few minutes and turn it back on. That usually fixes the first time issue.

 

[camner]

If both the phones are using different Phone numbers under iMessage (even though emails are same), that option would not appear on one of them.

Its a feature that allows other iCloud devices (with non-phone capabilities) to send SMS via a device (phone with sim) using same iCloud/iMessage account.

If your 4S is without a SIM or its own number, then you can try turning iMessage off on both. Turn on iMessage on the 5 (assuming thats your primary phone), wait few seconds and then turn it on for 4S. Option to text forward would then appear under iPhone 5 and u should be able to enable it from there for the 4S. 4S will NOT show this option.

The two phone are NOT sharing the same phone number, nor are they signed into iCloud with the same email address. The 4S IS signed into the iTunes store with the same Apple ID as the 5S, though.

I would think that under these circumstances (different phone #, different iCloud address) that the 4S should be able show "Text Message Forwarding," no?

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Turn iMessage off. Wait a few minutes and turn it back on. That usually fixes the first time issue.

I'm not sure how long "a few minutes" should be, but 5 minutes was not enough. The option to forward did not appear.

Thanks for the thought.

 

[Gav2k]

The two phone are NOT sharing the same phone number, nor are they signed into iCloud with the same email address. The 4S IS signed into the iTunes store with the same Apple ID as the 5S, though.

I would think that under these circumstances (different phone #, different iCloud address) that the 4S should be able show "Text Message Forwarding," no?

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I'm not sure how long "a few minutes" should be, but 5 minutes was not enough. The option to forward did not appear.

Thanks for the thought.

Hold on are you trying to forward one phone to a Mac? Or one phone to another phone??

 

[camner]

Another idea occurs to me...does one need to have signed in to iCloud on a target device (a device to which one wants to forward texts) BEFORE turning on iMessage in the source machine?

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Hold on are you trying to forward one phone to a Mac? Or one phone to another phone??

iPhone to iPad and Mac

 

[Gav2k]

Another idea occurs to me...does one need to have signed in to iCloud on a target device (a device to which one wants to forward texts) BEFORE turning on iMessage in the source machine?

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iPhone to iPad and Mac

Yes. iCloud on all devices + wifi and Bluetooth

 

[SanjeevRana]

The two phone are NOT sharing the same phone number, nor are they signed into iCloud with the same email address. The 4S IS signed into the iTunes store with the same Apple ID as the 5S, though.

I would think that under these circumstances (different phone #, different iCloud address) that the 4S should be able show "Text Message Forwarding," no?

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I'm not sure how long "a few minutes" should be, but 5 minutes was not enough. The option to forward did not appear.

Thanks for the thought.

Are they using same Apple ID under iMessage ? As I said before that if both phones have an active sim in them, this will never work. Only the main device can have a sim or active phone number through which other devices (with no sim) will send out text messages. I believe you have the wrong understanding of Text Forwarding