How to send a text message instead of an iMessage on iPhone

iMessage is the default messaging app on iOS devices, and is widely used by iOS users. The messaging app offers a variety of features, including voice messages, special effects, and a GIF browser.

The app sends messages as iMessages as opposed to text messages by default. This feature is easy to disable, and users can choose to send messages as text messages instead.

How to send a text message instead of an iMessage

You can send text messages over Wi-Fi, but in some cases, you may want to send a text message instead of an iMessage – iOS devices will default to sending an iMessage when you’re connected to the internet.

There are really two options here if you want to force an SMS text message – either turn your Wi-Fi off, or go into your settings and disable iMessage on your device.

So, as stated there are a few ways in which you can send iMessages as text messages on iOS devices. We’ll go through the basic methods in this article.

Turn off Wi-Fi

iMessage will automatically send messages as text messages if you’re not connected to Wi-Fi. The same applies when the person you’re sending the message to has no Wi-Fi.

Sending messages as iMessages requires a working internet connection for both yourself and the person you’re sending a message to.

The app also can’t send iMessages if the person you’re sending the message to doesn’t have the iMessage app.

The app will indicate to you whether any of these situations are the case, by replacing the blue arrow with a green one. It will also have the words ‘text message’ appear when you send one.

Text message boxes will also be green, instead of the blue that indicates an iMessage.

However, this will only happen if you have enabled iMessage to send text messages when Wi-Fi is unavailable.

You can check whether this is the case in the settings.

Go to Settings > Messages.

Check whether the switch next to the ‘send as SMS’ option is on. If so, iMessage should send text messages when Wi-Fi in unavailable.

If the switch is not on, press it to enable the option.

Turning off your Wi-Fi will enable iMessage to send messages as text messages automatically.

There are a few ways to turn off your Wi-Fi.

From the Control Centre

The first method is to disable Wi-Fi from the control centre.

Swipe up on your screen to access the control centre.

Press the Wi-Fi icon to disable Wi-Fi until the next day.

From the Settings

Another way to disable Wi-Fi is using the settings.

Go to Settings > Wi-Fi.

Press the switch next to ‘Wi-Fi’ to disable Wi-Fi.

Disable iMessage

Another way to enable iMessage to send text messages, is by disabling the iMessage option in the settings.

This will mean that every message you send using the app will be a text message instead of an iMessage.

Go to Settings > Messages.

Press the switch next to the ‘iMessage’ option to disable it.

Send Texts Manually

Another method for sending text messages in the iMessage app, is by doing it manually. You can select individual iMessages and send them as text messages.

In order to make this option available to you, you must disable the ‘send as SMS’ option and turn off your Wi-Fi.

This will mean that messages you send in iMessage will fail to send. You can then manually send them as text messages.

To disable the ‘send as SMS’ option, go to Settings > Messages.

Press the switch next to ‘send as SMS’ to disable the option.

To turn off Wi-Fi, swipe up on your screen. This opens the control centre.

Press the Wi-Fi icon to disable Wi-Fi.

You can also go to Settings > Wi-Fi, and press the switch next to ‘Wi-Fi’ to disable it.

Now, send a message in iMessage. The message will fail to send.

You will get notified of this through an exclamation mark icon appearing next to the message.

There will also be a notice, stating ‘message send failure’, on the message thread.

Next, press and hold on the message. This will cause a list of options to appear.

Press ‘send as text message’ to send the message as a text message.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are several ways in which you can send text messages in iMessage.

You can change the settings in order to enable text messages to be send automatically when Wi-Fi is unavailable, or you can disable iMessages completely.

You can also manually send messages as iMessages when certain conditions are met.

Overall, it’s quite easy to send messages as text messages in iMessages. The easiest method is by disabling iMessages in the settings.

However, this will cause you to be unable to send iMessages at all.