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Walkthrough of Apple's iMessages in iOS 5

I have a pay-as-you-go plan on T-Mobile, and they charge $0.10 each for a text going out and going in (last i checked). So I really hate texting on that phone, since a conversation can get really expensive, even one that's two or three messages long. I also hate typing on a T9, but sometimes I just have to use it because I get service everywhere, and I can't get Wi-Fi everywhere. If I did I'd use Textfree on my iPod touch exclusively.

Unfortunately it looks like iMessages can't solve that problem and I'll still have to rely on carrier SMS when I'm not on Wi-Fi.
 
Confirmation imessage

Can someone tell me if you also can get a delivery report for a normal text message. Or is that limited to Imessages?
I am not talking about the read confirmation message.
 
Last edited:
Wow, some people really getting in a state over this! Most of the answers are already in this thread, but here's a few key points:

  • You can turn this off (and still send/receive normal SMS on an iPhone).

  • You can select whether the app will send an SMS if it can't send an iM (as long as you're sending it to phone number, not an email address).

  • You can chose whether or not to send read receipts.

  • You associate one or more of your email addresses with the app (and also your iPhone phone number). If someone sends an iM to any of these email addresses or your iPhone number, it will be sent/received as an iM.

  • You can't associate your Nokia/Samsung etc phone number with iMessage - any iM sent to your traditional mobile/cell phone just gets sent to that phone as a plain SMS.

  • If your name is John Smith and I have you in my Contacts as follows:

    John Smith
    Home email: john.smith@me.com
    Work email: john.smith@work.com
    iPhone: 123 456 7890
    Mobile: 987 654 3210​

    When I put "John Smith" into the "To" field it gives me the option of which email/number I want to use. If I select any of the first three options (assuming you've associated both email addresses, otherwise they won't appear as options), the message will be sent as an iM. If you select the last option, it'll send an SMS. You can also select a mix of iMessage/SMS recipients in the same message - it's not something you need to worry about.

  • As you enter each recipient, the app automatically checks if their email address or phone number is associated with an iM account.

  • The green/blue is down to colour-coding: green for SMS recipients/messages, blue for iM recipients/messages.

  • The whole process is automatic - when you send a message to a contact you don't need to worry whether it should be an iM or SMS, it's a transparent process that the app deals with for you.
 
point ?

That's fun and cool to exchange free messages between iDevices...

But where I live (France), all phone plans now include unlimited SMS, even pre-paid cards include unlimited SMS. For everyone, not just those stupid iPhone plans. And everybody except iPhone owners get delivery receipts since 1997.

For instance i pay EUR 27.90 per month for 120 min + 120 min evenings/weekends, unlimited data (throttling @256kbps allowed but never personally experienced after 500MB), unlimited TV & mail, unlimited texts + unlimited call 24/7 to my 3 favorite numbers (that's after a commercial negociation between carrier and me). 24 month contract.
Of course SMS reception is always free for everyone.

So I welcome the gesture from Apple but I would frankly have preferred standard SMS delivery report functionality over this...
 
kyjaotkb said:
That's fun and cool to exchange free messages between iDevices...

But where I live (France), all phone plans now include unlimited SMS, even pre-paid cards include unlimited SMS. For everyone, not just those stupid iPhone plans. And everybody except iPhone owners get delivery receipts since 1997.

For instance i pay EUR 27.90 per month for 120 min + 120 min evenings/weekends, unlimited data (throttling @256kbps allowed but never personally experienced after 500MB), unlimited TV & mail, unlimited texts + unlimited call 24/7 to my 3 favorite numbers (that's after a commercial negociation between carrier and me). 24 month contract.
Of course SMS reception is always free for everyone.

So I welcome the gesture from Apple but I would frankly have preferred standard SMS delivery report functionality over this...
Click to expand...

Does that also extend to MMS as iMessage will also send these?

Even though individuals in France all get free SMS, does this extend to corporate customers? I'd imagine that corporate packages would still include some sort of blanket charge for SMS based on volume?

Personally I think Apple has done this more to tempt corporate customers rather than individuals based on the popularity of BBM in a lot of large businesses and hoping that companies looking at choosing between either BB or Apple, or potentially making the shift from BB to Apple, will be able to cross this off as no longer being an advantage of BB over Apple.
 
NightFox said:
Wow, some people really getting in a state over this! Most of the answers are already in this thread, but here's a few key points:

  • You can turn this off (and still send/receive normal SMS on an iPhone).

  • You can select whether the app will send an SMS if it can't send an iM (as long as you're sending it to phone number, not an email address).

  • You can chose whether or not to send read receipts.

  • You associate one or more of your email addresses with the app (and also your iPhone phone number). If someone sends an iM to any of these email addresses or your iPhone number, it will be sent/received as an iM.

  • You can't associate your Nokia/Samsung etc phone number with iMessage - any iM sent to your traditional mobile/cell phone just gets sent to that phone as a plain SMS.

  • If your name is John Smith and I have you in my Contacts as follows:

    John Smith
    Home email: john.smith@me.com
    Work email: john.smith@work.com
    iPhone: 123 456 7890
    Mobile: 987 654 3210​

    When I put "John Smith" into the "To" field it gives me the option of which email/number I want to use. If I select any of the first three options (assuming you've associated both email addresses, otherwise they won't appear as options), the message will be sent as an iM. If you select the last option, it'll send an SMS. You can also select a mix of iMessage/SMS recipients in the same message - it's not something you need to worry about.

  • As you enter each recipient, the app automatically checks if their email address or phone number is associated with an iM account.

  • The green/blue is down to colour-coding: green for SMS recipients/messages, blue for iM recipients/messages.

  • The whole process is automatic - when you send a message to a contact you don't need to worry whether it should be an iM or SMS, it's a transparent process that the app deals with for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this great info :).
Good that you can easily choose between Imessage or sms. Because some of my friends that have a Iphone don't have a data plan so their data is mostly turned off. So if I would send them a IMessage they would only receive it when they are at home and connect to wifi or so.

One more question: Is it possible to receive a delivery report from a regular text message? Or is that IMessage exclusive?
 
To all of you who complain about how much you pay to use your phones: Move to Europe :D

I pay ~19.50USD/month and get free sms/mms, 200mb free data and 2 free hours of talk (if I call someone who's the same provider as me, I call for free)

You can choose to pay ~29.50USD and get 600mb + 5 hours talk
Or you can pay ~39USD and get 1gig data and 10 hours talk

That's pretty nice :D
 
themd99 said:
What is the difference between this and Whatsapp messenger?
Click to expand...

The difference is that this will be integrated directly into the main messaging app, and will by and large seamlessly choose the lowest cost network, with no effort by end-users. It will also work across multiple devices, allowing you to pick up a conversation you started on your iPhone on your iPad, for example.

Whatsapp is a separate app, that has no SMS integration (you can have either an SMS conversation with someone, or a Whatsapp conversation, not both), no ability to seamlessly carry on from device to device, and, most importantly, requires the party on the other end to install their paid app! I have a contact list of several hundred people and not a SINGLE one has Whatsapp installed! I would wager that 50-100 of those people have iPhones, and 80% of the people I text most are on iPhones - and those messages will eventually be free - without us having to do anything.
 
j.larsen said:
To all of you who complain about how much you pay to use your phones: Move to Europe :D

I pay ~19.50USD/month and get free sms/mms, 200mb free data and 2 free hours of talk (if I call someone who's the same provider as me, I call for free)

You can choose to pay ~29.50USD and get 600mb + 5 hours talk
Or you can pay ~39USD and get 1gig data and 10 hours talk

That's pretty nice :D
Click to expand...

No need to move anyplace.

Some things take a little longer to happen on both sides of the ocean.

For example:USA has been mostly protecting non-smokers for over 30 years and in Germany it took 25 years to get that done.

Apple and all the other companies releasing smart phones will put tremendous pressure on data usage.

Time for some overriding competition which like a network of gas stations create Wi-Fi wherever you are.

Plenty of FREE wifi already.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple and others would create a data network if the current providers don't get there act together
 
klamse25 said:
This is the dumbest thing I've heard in my life.
Click to expand...
Don't know which part of this you think is dumb, but it is spot on accurate. Texting does not use your data plan. Try switching your data off and you will still send and receive text successfully.
 
j.larsen said:
To all of you who complain about how much you pay to use your phones: Move to Europe :D

I pay ~19.50USD/month and get free sms/mms, 200mb free data and 2 free hours of talk (if I call someone who's the same provider as me, I call for free)

You can choose to pay ~29.50USD and get 600mb + 5 hours talk
Or you can pay ~39USD and get 1gig data and 10 hours talk

That's pretty nice :D
Click to expand...
You are sure right about that, the us plans are one big ripoff. I pay sterling 15 in London about $24 and get 600 minutes, unlimited SMS, unlimited wifi and 1gig of 3G data per month on a sim only plan. I saw an offer for the same deal yesterday from a competitor for Sterling 10 or about $16. The carriers that do not offer unlimited SMS generally include 2000 SMS for free in their plans.
 
iMessage won't work like BBM does with RIM's own servers right?

If that's the case, I'm sure someone will port it over to Android soon enough.
 
TheNewDude said:
iMessage won't work like BBM does with RIM's own servers right?

If that's the case, I'm sure someone will port it over to Android soon enough.
Click to expand...

It will depend on how Apple authenticates the connection. Most likely it will be encrypted, so short of getting hold of the master key, not possible to fake authentication as an Apple device. In any case, what would be the point? The reason this system is impressive is because it integrates directly into the existing messaging app, and stands to save consumers money without them having to do anything. As has been noted many times here, there are lots of stand-alone apps that do basically the same thing - it is, after all - just IM - but very well integrated into the SMS system.
 
Been playing with iMessages today on my fourth gen touch and my wife's 3gs and I love it.

This unified messaging system will be a boon to the platform, especially on the devices lacking any GSM hardware and it's good to see IMO.
 
TigerWoodsIV said:
Yeah that's pretty awesome. Like a free upgrade from SMS to something even better. Being able to talk to iPads and iPod Touches is pretty nice too. About half the ppl I talk to on a regular basis have iPads or iPhones so not having to keep switching between phone and iPad is gonna be nice.
Click to expand...

Does it really even matter anyhow because for most of us SMS is already free or very close to it? I put it that no ones bill is going to go down a nickel even. I like the cross-device benefit though. It might be less compelling though if some friends are not on iOS and then you have to remember to go back to the handset.
 
Becordial said:
Does it really even matter anyhow because for most of us SMS is already free or very close to it? I put it that no ones bill is going to go down a nickel even. I like the cross-device benefit though. It might be less compelling though if some friends are not on iOS and then you have to remember to go back to the handset.
Click to expand...

Define 'most of us' because from where I'm standing, SMS is not anything like 'free or very close to it.'

I would bet that this is the first step in Apple integrating SMS/imessaging/ichat/facetime into a single app. Apple likes to take baby steps though so that they can better guarantee the user experience.
 
yanksrock100 said:
I have an ipod touch, and i use a free texting app so i can text phones. its not a great experience

Can i text non-ios devices with imessage?

please reply
Click to expand...

No, imessage works by checking if the device you are messaging is compatible with imessage. Currently only the iPod touch, iPad and iPhone are compatible with imessage as they are the only devices that run iOS 5.
 
Becordial said:
Does it really even matter anyhow because for most of us SMS is already free or very close to it? I put it that no ones bill is going to go down a nickel even. I like the cross-device benefit though. It might be less compelling though if some friends are not on iOS and then you have to remember to go back to the handset.
Click to expand...

Don't forget this also means you can now message contacts with online non-phone iOS devices; iPod Touches and iPads, it's not as if you could send an SMS to them.
 
Here's a scenario.

Brother has iPhone 4
I have android phone, iPad 2 and MacBook .

When my brother decides to message me with his iPhone. Where does the message go? MacBook may be on but on standby. Does message appear every where (on all devices) and once I click read or reply it's done? How does Apple know if my iPad or MacBook is actively used so message comes to those apple devices vs my android phone via SMS?

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this setup.


Thanks
 
OK, now all I want is the ability to get a data only plan, imessages, and a VOIP for backup calling.
 
btcutter said:
Here's a scenario.

Brother has iPhone 4
I have android phone, iPad 2 and MacBook .

When my brother decides to message me with his iPhone. Where does the message go? MacBook may be on but on standby. Does message appear every where (on all devices) and once I click read or reply it's done? How does Apple know if my iPad or MacBook is actively used so message comes to those apple devices vs my android phone via SMS?

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this setup.


Thanks
Click to expand...

It depends - when he puts your name in the "to" field it will make him chose either your phone number or your email address (or one of them if you've got more than one), based on whatever he's got in your details in Contacts.

If he choses your phone number, the message will be sent as an SMS to your Android phone.

If he choses your email address, the message will be sent as an iMessage to an iMessage server in the cloud. Any iOS device that has iMessage running (and that same email address registered within iMessage) will then pick up the message from the cloud either straight away, or when the device is turned back on if it is off. You can have multiple email addresses registered in the app.

So, it's very much like push email. You'll get the message instantly on your iPad, and when you turn your MacBook on you'll also see it on there.

Bottom line is that you don't send a message to a person, you send it to a specific phone number or email address belonging to that person.
 
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