Hello! Lately I've been wanting a phone that is near bezel-less and have my eye on the S8. I want to switch between my iPhone and the s8 as I feel like. Is this feasible? I remember a couple years ago when I had to go to android because my iPhone 6 broke, removing my number from iMessage, and then later adding it back when I got the iPhone 6s, was a pain to do. Has it gotten easier since then? Would I have better luck ditching iMessage and using a third party messaging service?
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Would like to switch back and forth between phones. How feasible is this?
- Thread starter jc0187
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I do this all the time. Back in the day turning off iMessage didn't seem to be enough. But today, the only thing I do is turn off iMessage and Facetime before I take the sim card out of my iphone and I have very few issues. A third party messaging service would be even better, if all your contacts use the messaging service.
Unfortunately I have friends that use both iOS and android. My iOS friends exclusively use iMessage and would never touch a third party app for messaging. I forgot about the SIM card lol. That might be more hassle than what it's worth. Maybe I can just add another sim that is linked to my phone number?
I'm not sure you can get a 2nd sim unless you are doing T-mobiles digits, which has a cost.
Apparently I have T-Mobile and I've heard about that digits but have absolutely zero idea what it is.
This is my understanding: You can download the digits app on a device (2nd cell phone, tablet, computer etc...) and the app lets the messages/calls from your phone come to the 2nd device. I also believe they will send you a second sim card for your same number, for a monthly price. I'm not sure if digits overall is free or not still. It works similarly to how you can get iMessages/calls etc on your other Apple devices.
Ahh interesting. I'll contact T-Mobile and see my options here. I just didn't want to remove both phones from their cases all the time. I buy those tri-layer cases that can be a real pain to get off. But, if you have toddlers in your house, you'll appreciate the hardcore protection.
Just an FYI - Sprint is giving away their unlimited service for 1 year. If you have a compatible phone, all you have to do is buy a SIM card and port in a number. I think it’s like $12 for shipping. You can make a Google Voice account and use that number to port into Sprint. I use 2 phones for various reasons and did this for my secondary phone. Thought this might make sense for your situation.
I think it's a PITA personally I did it years ago
iMessage to text and back is a headache and a half
iMessages get stuck in the cyberspace and all kinds of confusing problems
I've found swapping iOS devices way more relatively seamless (as long as I check iMessage activated properly in settings without my #)
I hop between 7+ and SE
iMessage to text and back is a headache and a half
iMessages get stuck in the cyberspace and all kinds of confusing problems
I've found swapping iOS devices way more relatively seamless (as long as I check iMessage activated properly in settings without my #)
I hop between 7+ and SE
This is still an issue? That’s unacceptable - can’t believe they still haven’t ironed this out
Oh I dunno if it's been addressed. Last I tried was nexus 5 days
But I would assume so?
I've had friends dabble w androids from iOS and sometimes takes a good while to not be stuck on blue when they're not on it
Even if not jarring for friends to go from iMessage to text. Prepare for "oh u switched?", replies and confusion or "iMessage not working?"
Hmm, I'll look into it. Thanks!
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I had this issue too. When my iPhone 6 broke I got a cheap android phone to hold me over. Man o man did I lose out on many text messages. Just floating away somewhere.
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Haha yep!
Oh I agree entirely - if my friends and family started seeing green bubbles they’d probably call the police to start the search for me.
I remember the same as you - enabling iMessage was like handcuffing your phone number to Apple’s ecosystem. Interested to hear whether others still have similar issues.
I do this all the time, switch between my 6s and S8. Just turn off iMessage when you're not using the iPhone and you should be ok. Its kind of annoying sometimes when I want to go back and read a message but remember its on my other phone not the one im currently using since the texts dont transfer between devices. Also if your iPhone friends send you a video just know it will be compressed to hell and pixelated on your S8. Other than those minor annoyances it should be fine.
Is that all you have to do then? Is turn off iMessage from your iPhone before using an android phone?
It stopped being an issue for me about 2 years ago. As long as I turn off iMessage and Facetime BEFORE I remove the sim from the iPhone, everything works as planned.