Send As Sms When Imessage Is Unavailable
To send a message to someone when iMessage is unavailable, open the Messages app and tap on the conversation. Then, tap on the “i” in the top right corner of the screen. Next, turn on the “Send as SMS” toggle, your messages will be sent as regular text messages instead of iMessages.
Sending messages as SMS comes in handy when you need a text message delivered to the recipient quickly, and you have enabled Send As SMS when imessage is not available on the iPhone. If you disable the Send as SMS option, the iMessage will not deliver until your iPhone is online again. The same is true if an individual is using an Apple device, but has not enabled iMessage. Even if both you and the recipient have iMessage enabled on their Apple devices, there is the possibility the message will be sent as an SMS.
When you send a message to another contact using your Apple device, by default, your iPhone will send it through iMessage. When you send an iMessage, Apple routes the message through its servers using your Internet connection. SMS and MMS require the cell phone network for sending a text, while iMessage requires an Internet connection via data or WiFi. Without Wi-Fi or cellular data, your iMessage will not send.
This means that your iMessage cannot connect to a server, has no Internet connection, or there is some other issue during sending. This status means that a message was sent, but that it was not received by the recipient because of a iMessage issue or Internet connectivity issue. Yes, this status typically indicates your text was sent and delivered as a successful SMS message, unless there is a “Not Delivered” icon below. If you are used to seeing your text sent in blue iMessages with the Delivered – it can be a little confusing when the message turns green and displays the Sent As Text Message badge instead.
You may wonder what sent as text message means if you are seeing this prompt on your messages when iMessage is not capable of sending a text normally, and want to try sending as a normal SMS instead. Because iMessage is not sending on occasion, it is possible for your iPhone to attempt sending texts via SMS (Short Message Service) instead, including to others who are also on an iPhone. Your iPhone may also send MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages.
Because Facebook Messenger users message outside of the Apple user community, and occasionally when a data network is not available, iMessage can fall back on SMS if necessary. When the iMessage recipient moves to a non-served area, turns off iMessage, or there is an issue with Apple servers, the Messages app on the iPhone will generally deliver the iMessages as normal SMS text messages. You can adjust whether the Messages App will automatically send iMessages as an SMS Text message when your iPhone has no Internet connectivity. If a connection is intermittent, or if one is unavailable, the Messages app will try to deliver the message using SMS.
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Sometimes, because of poor service areas/out-of-service, or recipients cannot receive iMessage, or they are located in another country or on carriers that do not support iMessage, then you may be forced to quickly send the message using SMS. At this point, users have no time for waiting, moreover, want to send urgent messages as emergency, so following tutorial helps in forcing text message rather than iMessage.
| How to enable SMS when iMessage is unavailable | Reasons of unavailability of iMessage |
| Settings | poor / out of service areas |
| iMessages | carriers that do not support iMessage |
| sliding the Power ON | issue with Apple servers |
| iMessages is enabled | Internet connectivity issue |
| Restart iMessage | disable Sending under Settings |
Some iOS device users cannot be affected fast after setting it up then neither send an imessage or a plain text message, I would suggest you follow below points and verify if everything is fine. Kindly Note: Before being able to send SMS Text messages to someone when iMessage is unavailable, You need to Enable Send As SMS in iPhone Settings. In many cases, this toggle is not problematic, but you might prefer that you send intended messages as IMs only, and your iPhone does not fall back on the SMS option.
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Once you make the toggle, you will now be able to use SMS cellular service to send messages any time iMessages is unavailable or does not work on your iPhone. When imessage is unavailable or not working because there are connectivity issues or connectivity errors, or perhaps you are running out of data or WiFi is not available in your area, the iMessage will attempt to use a SMS, or send a message like a SMS text message. Sending as a sms just means sending the sms text message using a cell phone network since imessage is not working or not available in the exact time that you are trying to send a message or an imessage to the recipient. For myself, I would suggest to enable Send As SMS option in iPhone, just in case imessage is not working or unavailable, you can send text message using SMS, unless you are going to be using something like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc.
This is what sending as sms means on the iPhone, using a cell networks service to send text to someone on your iPhone, and it is available for only iMessage users. Send is a safe way of making sure the message is sent only as an iMessage. You must enable Sending under Settings for this to work.
You might have to turn these messages on in Settings before you can send them. Check you are set up to send and receive iMessages by going to Settings > Messaging and checking if iMessage is enabled. Restart iMessage by going to Settings > Messages and turning iMessage off, then turning your iPhone off by pressing and holding the On/Off switch, sliding it down to Power Off, then waiting for your iPhone to boot back up. If iMessage is still not working, you may want to try to revert the network settings of the iPhone back to their factory defaults.
When the iPhone is turned on again, you should be able to access the Messages app and easily send back any troubled texts. Restart iMessage on each device, and you should (hopefully) find your problem solved. Open up iMessage and tap the group message that you are trying to respond to. Go to Settings > Mail > Send and receive, and check your email address and your Apple ID phone number are both present in You can send iMessages and respond to them from within this section.
Disabling it does not prevent you from receiving texts, and when you respond to an Apples user, it will be via text. If after all of that, your iPhone still does not send texts, then the final option is to talk with your cell phone provider. The Messages app on the iPhone is able to send both IMessages using Apple servers, as well as regular SMS text messages using your carriers network.
What happens when someone with iMessage blocks you?
You don’t receive an error message, and the message is sent as usual. Finding clues is not at all aided by this. Attempting to send an iMessage to someone who has blocked you on an iPhone will result in the message remaining blue, indicating that it is still an iMessage. The person who blocked you won’t ever see that message, though.
How do I send a message as a text message instead of iMessage?
The Settings>Messages menu on your iPhone allows you to switch off iMessages, but you should be aware that doing so will prohibit you from receiving or sending any iMessages until you turn it back on. To send text messages, make sure that “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging” are enabled.