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Use of internet on the iPhone?

Does iOS 5 use iMessage and Text Messaging interchangeably on sender's iPhone (with iOS 5) depending on internet connectivity on recipient's iPhone (with iOS 5)?

  • iMessage uses Cellular Data/WiFi to send/receive messages between iOS5 users. So, in a scenario where iPhone user A tries to message iPhone user B and B isn't connected to the internet, does iOS5 switch back to text messaging on A's iPhone? I have tried this scenario a few times and it doesn't work that way but I just wanted to confirm. IF this is true, I think it's a drawback.

  • Answer:

    If you're sending an iMessage to a phone number and the recipient is not available via iMessage, after a couple of minutes the Messages app will eventually ask you if you want to revert to sending it via SMS instead  The process is not automatic, however.

Jesse Hollington at Quora Visit the source

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No, it doesn't work like that. If person B is not connected to the Internet, the message will simply be queued along with any other push notifications, and person B will get it next time they get online. iMessage only reverts to regular SMS if person A (the sender) is not connected to the Internet or the iMessage servers are otherwise unavailable.

Guillermo Esteves

You could also press and hold the message after sending it (while it hasn't yet been delivered), and it will give an option to "Send as Text Message".

Milind Ganjoo

How the system handles messages, and I am writing as an end user not a techie, depends on your settings in settings/messages. By setting iMessage on as well as SMS, it sends as SMS when iMessage is not available.  The ones sent as iMessage show up as blue and the text messages as green on my phone.

Sam Kaplan

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