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What is iMessage? Activating and using iMessage

With the launch of iOS 10, Apple introduced an update to its proprietary messenger iMessage. At first glance, nothing interesting happened: stickers, emoji and animated fireworks were added. In fact, Apple introduced a whole new platform open to third-party developers. Over time, built-in applications of varying degrees of usefulness became available to users.

Offers a selection of hidden and unobvious features of the iMessage service that will make using it more convenient and enjoyable.

Handwritten text

Let's start simple: place your iPhone in a horizontal position and press the bottom left key. The keyboard will turn into a graphics tablet on which you can write something by hand, and in the case of an iPad and a stylus, make a sketch for a working design project.


Messages with effects

There are several types of message effects. You can send any message using the standard Slam, Loud, Gentle and Invisible ink. The latter makes it possible to send hidden messages, the text of which becomes available after touching the message itself. The effects menu is called up by a long tap on the send messages button. The message can also be accompanied by balloons, confetti or full-screen fireworks. Similar effects are located in the same menu in the Screen section. Effects can be used not only for entertainment, but also to draw attention to certain important messages.


Tapback

An excellent option for moments when there is absolutely no time to write and send a message, but the interlocutor needs your answer. A long tap on an incoming message brings up a menu with six standard reactions to the message.


Music from Apple Music


Replacing words with emoji

Type some text, switch your keyboard to emoji mode, and you'll see how individual words in a message can automatically turn into pictures.


Rock Paper Scissors

Another proposal that solves the problem of choice. Rock-paper-scissors - an application with the game rock-paper-scissors - allows you to resolve any dispute directly in the application, you just need to launch the application in the Apps menu or accept the offer to play from your interlocutor.


Making your own stickers

You can now create your own set of stickers from photos of friends or favorite moments from films as easily and quickly as possible, without even leaving the messenger. The imoji app for iMessage allows you to instantly crop the desired photo to fit a sticker and save it to your collection.


Gifs

An irreplaceable thing in any messenger is the ability to send GIFs. By default, iMessage does not have a GIF browser, but everything can be solved by adding the GIF Keyboard application to the Apps menu right in the messenger. The application allows you to search for GIFs by keywords and send them with the correct display.


Setting a meeting place and time

If you are always late or, on the contrary, are punctual and do not like to wait for others, the ETA application will help you. With it, you can send a friend the distance from where you are to the intended meeting place. The application determines the time you will spend on the road, walking, traveling by car or public transport. True, it costs 229 rubles.


Games: poker, billiards and sea battle

You can play one of these games with a friend directly in the messenger. GamePigeon has ten built-in games that you can play against your friends. All you have to do is add the application to your collection in iMessage and send an offer to play. The interlocutor will receive an invitation in the form of a regular message.


Do you want to know how to set up the new iMessage service that appeared on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch after installing the firmware on them? Now we will tell you how to do this.

To begin with, let us recall that using iMessage You'll be able to send text messages, photos, videos, and more to your friends around the world completely free of charge, all bypassing your carrier's data plans!

Requirements:

* Any device with iOS 5 pre-installed.
* Availability of EDGE/3G or Wi-Fi connection.

Connecting and setting up iMessage on iPhone

"Settings" > "Messages" and turn it on iMessage.

When activated iMessage you will receive this message:

2. Now you need to fill in the field "Getting On" in the settings of this service. Here you can enter your phone number, email address (Apple ID), or both. Some fields may already be filled in!


iMessage on your iPhone. You can set all other settings (read report, send as SMS, etc.) at your discretion.

Connecting and setting up iMessage on iPad and iPod Touch

Settings iMessage Setting up this service on an iPad and iPod Touch is somewhat different from setting up this service on an iPhone, since these devices have no connection to a phone number.

1. Log in on your device to "Settings" > "Messages" and turn it on iMessage.

2. If you have an Apple ID, enter it in the field "Getting On", if you don't have an account, create one.


3. After this you get an active account iMessage on your iPhone. You can set all other settings (reading report and topic display) at your discretion.

What you need to know!

If you only have one device, you don't have to worry about anything. If you have multiple devices with iOS 5, you need to think about how you want them to work, under the same ID or under different ones:

1. If you chose with one ID, then you need to enter the same Apple ID on all your devices. Moreover, all messages sent via iMessage will be sent to all your devices with this ID.
2. If you chose with different IDs, then you need to create separate Apple IDs for each device. To do this, select "Create a new account". However, messages sent via iMessage will be sent to the device for which it is intended.

Basically, that's all you need to know about connecting and setting up iMessage.

Send iMessages using Wi-Fi

iMessage by using WiFi i, on both devices:

iOS 5.
iMessage.
WiFi.

1. Select the contact you want to send a message to and click on "Send a message".

2. If the contact description contains more than just his phone number, you will see something like the following picture

To send a message on iPhone, you must select a cell phone number, but if you select an email address, the message will be sent to all devices with that Apple ID. In this case we choose a phone number.

3. If you did everything correctly and all conditions are met, you will see the message in the message column "iMessage", and not the standard one - "Message".

4. Now all that remains is to write the text of the message and send it.

Sending iMessages using EDGE/3G

To send/receive a message iMessage by using EDGE/3G, on both devices:

* The firmware must be installed at least iOS 5.
*Your account must be activated iMessage.
*Both devices must be connected to the network EDGE/3G.

The situation here is not clear-cut and, most likely, everything will depend on your operator and tariff plan. But in the near future we will continue testing iMessage via EDGE/3G and as soon as we understand how it works, we will add to this FAQ.

In any case, when using iMessage, pay attention to the text input field if it says "iMessage", then the message will go free if "Message"- just like SMS.

PS. This instruction and much more is already available in the new section of our forum -. In this section, we will publish various useful instructions on using iOS 5, iCloud, Siri, Mac OS X and much more. To access this section you must register on the forum.


Greetings, dear user of wonderful devices from Apple based on the iOS operating system. In today's article, a short lesson, I want to touch on the topic of tools for sending messages, namely a popular tool called iMessage on the iPhone. First of all, in order to immediately answer some questions, I will define what this notorious iMessage is, what it is used for, its capabilities and methods of activation.

iMessage is a technology developed by Apple with which you can send any text message to another iPhone user and iMessage user. Those. Based on their definition, iMessage is an instant messaging service between users.

In principle, if you have ever used messaging on Skype or WhatsApp, you should understand how it works. Thus, using iMessage you can save on sending SMS to iPhone users.

Before you can use iMessage on your iPhone and be able to send at least one message, this service and feature must be activated. This is done as follows.

Activation

In order to enable the ability to exchange messages using the iMessage service, you need to perform the following steps:

In order to send a message you need to perform a few simple steps. Below I will tell you about them in detail.

Usage

In order to use iMessage, you must be connected to the Internet, as well as have an iPhone for the person you are sending the message to. Messages are sent like this:


As you can see, a regular paid SMS is sent on the right, and a free iMessage is sent on the left. The recipient will also see these messages and, accordingly, will be able to respond to them both using SMS and using the iMessage service.

That's probably all I have. I hope this article helped you understand such an important issue as using the functions and capabilities of iMessage. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can leave them in the comments to this post, I will try to answer as quickly as possible. Also, I would be very grateful if you share this article on your social media accounts. See you in future useful notes and lessons.

You've probably noticed that sometimes a message from an Apple technology user arrives on your iPad or Mac with Email. It gets to the point of being comical: a person with whom you communicate at work, who occupies a high-ranking position in some institution, writes you an SMS warning that he will not be able to make it to the meeting on time, but messages arrive from an email like [email protected] or even worse, [email protected] . And it may be impossible to identify the sender.

Why is this happening?

Activation of iMessage occurs in two stages:

    1. You enter your Apple ID and password to log in to the Apple services system.
    2. Your phone (and we recommend activating iMessage from it for the first time) sends an SMS message to Apple servers and waits for a positive response.


Your consent to sending international SMS

The first step is for Apple to know that you want to use their iMessage service with this Apple ID. If you have agreed to the company's rules and entered your email address and password correctly, the service will be activated. At first, sending messages via the Internet became possible only with Apple ID(your email).

At the second stage, after receiving an SMS response from Apple servers (we don’t see this, the phone does everything “in the background”, and international SMS can be tracked in detail taken from the cellular operator) it is “linked” to your Apple ID phone number SIM card installed in the device. If everything went correctly, then messages begin to be sent correctly, using your phone number as the sender ID.


When everything is set up correctly

At the second stage, various types of errors are possible, about which your phone will not inform you, you need to monitor this yourself:

  • There may not be enough funds in the number's balance to send international SMS;
  • The cellular operator may disable the ability to send both all SMS and international ones in particular;
  • A message may be sent by your phone, but no response is received;
  • No network (must have both internet access and cellular network)

You will see the message “Waiting for activation...” under the iMessage enabled toggle switch. The first three to five minutes is normal; the phone performs a number of actions “in the background.” If this period is extended, most likely some error has occurred.


At the “Waiting for activation...” stage, it is possible to send iMessage only from the email on the right. If everything freezes at this stage, there will be problems

The consequence of an iMessage activation error will be the title of this article: messages from you will come from your email, not your phone number.

How to deal with this?

If the problem is relevant to you, it should be solved step by step.

    1. Turn off iMessage for everyone your devices. On a computer this is done in the settings of the Messages program, on iOS devices in Settings -> Messages.
    2. Make sure that all devices have All operating system updates. For iMessage to work correctly, it requires Mac OS version 10.8 on computers and iOS 6 on smartphones and tablets. Update yourself. If this is not possible, then accept the absence of iMessage.
    3. Activate iMessage on your phone. To do this, open Settings -> Messages, move the toggle switch iMessage to active state and enter your Apple ID and password. Be sure to wait until the “Waiting for activation...” message in the message settings disappears and you can set the phone number in the “Send/Receive” field.


Set the toggle switch to active and enter the Apple ID/password pair

    1. Go to the “Send/Receive” settings in your phone’s message settings and uncheck the boxes everyone email addresses. Leave only phone number.


The settings for all iOS devices are approximately the same; for clarity, the correct iPad settings are shown

  1. Repeat steps 3–4 on all iOS devices.
  2. Turn on iMessage on your Mac. To do this, open the Messages settings and enter your Apple ID and password. In the “Your address or number for messages” field, uncheck the checkboxes opposite everyone email addresses, leave only phone number.


Enter Apple ID and password


Checking


The account is enabled


Everything is included and configured correctly

If you encounter difficulties while following this simple instruction (the phone number does not appear as a sender ID on your iPad or on your Mac, for example), it’s not a problem. You should patiently repeat the adjustment until you achieve the desired result. Sometimes, after successfully activating iMessage on your phone, you need to try to activate the service on your iPod three times in a row. And on a computer it is impossible to link a phone number until you activate iMessage again on the same iPhone. There was even a case when we needed intentionally include as sender ID E-mail address on all devices, send test messages and return the active phone number to its place. In rare cases, it is necessary to contact the cellular operator and remove all restrictions on receiving/sending SMS messages, and sometimes change the SIM card. The problem is that if for everyone If your iMessage settings are not brought to one common denominator, then there is no point in using this technology and it is easier to abandon it.

After reading the entire article, you may have a question: “What is all the fuss about and why is the author so persistently demanding that you turn off all email?” It's simple. Once you remove the SIM card from your phone, iMessage will not work properly. This happens infrequently and not in 100% of cases. But it happens. If you follow our advice, then in the worst case you you can't send iMessage and your message will be sent through the cellular operator's channels as SMS. If we ignore our experience, there is a risk of encountering the same problem that this post is dedicated to.

After such pains with the iMessage settings, they will work perfectly and you will forget about these instructions until the moment when one of the devices has to be changed. If you replace a device with a newer one, you may need to repeat the procedure for one or all devices. However, as iMessage exists today, the technology is much better than what it was a year ago.

A little unnecessary history after the fact

In the Mac OS X Lion operating system, you could install the beta version of Apple's iMessage and start sending messages to users of Apple technology via the Internet, for free (from Macs to phones). With the release of iOS 5, iMessage officially came to the world of smartphones, players and tablets from Apple. In the summer of 2012, the Mac OS X Mountain Lion operating system released messages from beta testing to a full working state on Mac computers. And only with the update of mobile iOS to the sixth version, it finally became possible to use iMessage simultaneously from laptops, tablets, smartphones and players, since the number of failures in their operation quickly approached zero. However, if you like this service and plan to use it, you should “play” by the rules assigned by Apple.

Developers of products for Apple devices always strive to somehow improve and make it easier for users to operate their branded gadgets. This gives rise to various useful applications and options. For example, iMessage. How to enable this option? What it is? Why is it necessary and is it necessary at all? There are answers to all these questions.

What it is

Before you enable iMessage, you need to understand what this application actually is. First of all, this is a useful option that allows owners of Apple equipment to communicate with each other free of charge. Any user of a new generation iPod can send text messages, photos, and videos to his interlocutor. Naturally, the application only works in the “home” company - Apple. Any other company simply does not have the ability to connect to the iMessage conversation. How to enable this application? More on this a little later.

What does it work for?

So why is it shareware? Because nothing is completely free. Here the price of the issue is limited by the requests of the Internet provider. Yes, yes, the application works exclusively on the Internet, without being tied to a specific telecom operator. Simply put, a SIM card is not needed at all. Internet connection only. The convention is hidden in this: you also have to pay for the Network. Well, or not, if we are talking about “free” Wi-Fi in public places. And it becomes free more and more often and in many places. Therefore, the appearance of such an application has become a real lifesaver for users.

Activation

Many have already appreciated all the delights of such a useful application as iMessage. How to enable it on your device? Nothing could be simpler! You need to go to "Settings", in the "Messages" section. The right side menu will say iMessage. How to enable this option? You just need to drag the toggle switch sideways so that it changes color to green. All! The application is activated, you can customize it for yourself. Attention! To activate, you must have an Internet connection (any connection: at least 3G, at least Wi-Fi). That's it, after that you can use the application anytime and anywhere. The latter is especially relevant. Especially for those who travel a lot.

iPhone 5

Before you enable iMessage on iPhone 5, it's worth learning more about both. The useful application became available to users after the release of the iOS 5 mobile operating system. Before this, the option simply did not exist! This is a note for those who are just planning to purchase an iPhone, saving on the model. It’s worth remembering right away: outdated versions simply lose the company’s support as it develops and introduces more and more useful options, many of which simply no longer work for old gadgets. iPhone 5, by the way, became the first from the Apple family where the free messages option became available. And it created a sensation! Although at first there were some noticeable shortcomings when working with telecom operators. For example, when changing a SIM card, some internal settings were lost, after which the application stopped working. But in the end, the developers worked out all their shortcomings, after which the function began to work like clockwork: without failures, glitches, or lags.

What are the advantages

The biggest advantage is that it is free! For a long time now, gadget owners have been using mobile tariffs with unlimited Internet, and “free” Wi-Fi is appearing more and more often. So why pay for SMS and MMS when you can send whatever your heart desires to your loved ones for free. And it doesn’t matter how far you are from each other. Yes, there are a lot of other commercial and free applications with the same option, but here iMessage is what sets it apart (how to enable it is already described above). First of all, you don't even need a phone number. Only an individual number - Apple ID - and an email address, which is automatically associated with the device upon activation. Secondly, when sending messages from an iPhone, there is no need to go into the application. It automatically determines who and how to send it, of course, in some way a “rebellion”, because the user, in theory, should decide how to manage his messages. But the innovation is really useful, and even allows you to save money.

How it works

Before you enable iMessage on iPhone, you need to thoroughly understand everything. The user types a message and selects the sender. That's it, the operating system decides for him. If the recipient has iMessage, the message is sent via a special channel - quickly and free of charge. If not, then the sending takes place from a SIM card for money. Everything is as simple as possible! With iPads, which don't have Cercullar, things are even easier. Messages are sent immediately via the iMessage channel. But only for those who also have this application. You cannot send messages to Android, Windows and other operating systems!

Customize settings

Before you enable iMessage, it's worth learning how to set it up. Not much is allowed to the user. But what we have is also quite enough! First of all, a reading report. The sender himself decides whether the interlocutor should see whether his message has been read or not. Secondly, the user can block some contacts. Those, for example, that for some reason are unpleasant to him. Thirdly, you can set the storage period for messages. For example, indefinitely. They don’t take up much space, and they can contain quite important information. Fourthly, you can set a time limit on video and audio. For example, 2 minutes. This is enough to record a voice message or send a short video greeting. By the way, for sending video recordings and video chat there is a separate free system application that has proven itself well.

Mas

Naturally, Apple could not ignore its computer users! They also have access to iMessage! First, you need to update your operating system to OS X Mountain Lion. Only starting from this version the mentioned function with messages is available. How to enable iMessage on Mac? Yes, just launch the application from your desktop, specifying your Apple ID. And here comes the most important advantage of this program! You can start a dialogue on one device (for example, an iPhone), and continue on another (for example, a Mac). There is only one obligatory condition - all gadgets must be linked to one individual number! That's it, no SIM cards, no money, no limits.