Can I use M4 iMac or M3 iPad Air to exchange text messages with cell phones?

Emmett_1944 wrote:

To razmee, Idris, Mr. Hoffmann, Lawrence,

I am afraid all these replies are waaaaaaaay over my head.

Omitting the reason here — the potential removal of the cellphone — left this more open-ended than might have been intended, too.

What I am getting is - Can I send text messages to cell phones using my Mac. The answer is no. I might be able to if I had an iPhone but I mentioned I am considering reducing my cell phone plan to the bare minimum or getting rid of the cell phone altogether.

Mac has no cellular radio, so no cellular voice, no SMS, and no RCS.

So Mac cannot send (or receive) that stuff directly.

There are ways around this, but you’re probably not interested in dealing with a service.

Apple Messages has nothing to do with cell phones or texting. It is for chatting. Chatting is essentially the same as texting, where someone sends you a few lines of text, you send a few lines back, etc. Apple does this through a service called iMessage. You can only use Apple Messages with other Apple devices connected to wifi. Is that it?

Apple Messages app can send SMS and RCS messages, when the necessary cellular hardware is available directly, or nearby.

Apple Messages on Mac can send SMS and RCS indirectly too, when the Mac has access to an associated iPhone.

But with no cellular hardware and with no phone, that makes sending SMS and RCS from a Mac more problematic.

If you soley want chat functions, there are lots of alternatives to SMS and RCS and carrier-based messaging.

Emmett_1944 wrote:

Apple Messages on my Mac can be used to do chatting with any Apple device that is connected to the internet through wifi. I can also use the Mac to do chatting with ANY device that is connected to the internet through wifi if I use an app like Whatsapp. Under no circumstances can Apple Messages or any other app let me chat with a cell phone connected to the internet over the cell phone system.

There is one way that hasn’t been mentioned: Google Voice can send and receive text messages from any computing device. It’s free, and you get your own personal phone number (which you can choose, as long as it isn’t already someone’s number). It supports texting, RCS, live phone calls, voicemail and spam protection. And it can forward incoming calls to your landline or mobile phone (or both at the same time), and also make outgoing calls from your device.

You can subscribe by going to https://voice.google.com. And, as I said, it’s free.

Thanks. I read those articles but I am completely confused. So Google Messages on my android phone is an app for sending text messages over the cell phone network but Apple Messages on my iMac/iPad is an app that has nothing whatsoever to do with sending text messages to cell phones??

Correct you can't send MMS/SMS aka text message to non Apple devices, you need an iphone to set up text forwarding again outlined in this link Forward text messages from your iPhone to other devices - Apple Support

You can only send imessage to other Apple products ipad/iphone/Macbook/ipod etc.

Click here to read the difference What is the difference between iMessage, RCS, and SMS/MMS? - Apple Support

icloud read here Set up iCloud for Messages on all your devices - Apple Support

Emmett_1944 wrote:

Thanks that is good to know. It was confusing because on my phone Google Messages is the app for sending and receiving text messages over cell phones.

This is the equivalent of telling me your Android is a clock. Yes, it shows the time. It can do more.

And Apple Messages has nothing to do with cell phones.

Again, that is an incomplete understanding.

And then I heard of iMessage which I thought might be the app on an iPhone for sending and receiving texts, which I was apparently mistaken again.

Again, that’s incomplete.

I just read that the app on the iPhone for sending and receiving texts is also called Messages. So that is 3 different apps called Messages that do either completely different or overlapping functions. Confusing.

For the purposes of this comparison, Apple Messages and iMessage and the iPhone Message app and the iPad Messages app and the Mac Messages app are all functionally the same app, the difference being what communications hardware is available to the app.

iPhone all have SMS and RCS communications hardware, while nothing else (in the Apple product line) does.

Your Mac can’t magically create that carrier connection.

If you don't need SMS or RCS, you can use Messages, or some other text-based chat app that the recipient also has.

Emmett_1944 wrote:

I have an M4 iMac and an M3 iPad Air. Can I exchange text messages with people's cell phones (over home wifi. No cell service on the iPad)?

Is that what the Apple Messages app is for? It is confusing because I have a cheap android phone and the text messages app is called Google Messages.

No, you need an iphone to set up text message forwarding in order to receive/send to android read here https://support.apple.com/en-us/102545

Read here about messaging Use Messages on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Emmett_1944 wrote:

Thanks. I read those articles but I am completely confused. So Google Messages on my android phone is an app for sending text messages over the cell phone network but Apple Messages on my iMac/iPad is an app that has nothing whatsoever to do with sending text messages to cell phones??

No, Google Messages does not send text messages over the cell phone network. It's just like Apple Messages in that it uses the internet to send messages.

If yes then what does Apple Messages do? I was always under the impression that Apple Messages was for exchanging text messages with cell phones.

Apple's Messages app allows you to send SMS messages (the ones that use the cellular voice channel). It can also be used to send RCS messages and iMessages which use cellular data or WiFi.

What is the purpose of setting up Messages in iCloud? Is it just to sync whatever Messages does across all your devices?

Yes, that's exactly what it does.

The cell phone is becoming so expensive and I so rarely use it I was considering either switching to a very low priced prepaid plan or possibly getting rid of it altogether. I had always been under the impression I could somehow send and receive text messages to cell phones using either my iMac or iPad. No?

You can but only if you also have an iPhone. Review the article on forwarding text messages that has been linked to twice so far in this thread.

I’m using “chat” here generically; to mean sending and receiving emojis and other text-oriented communications.

There are various chat apps available here, of which iMessage is one. Signal is another. There are many other chat apps.

With Apple gear, SMS and RCS communications are only available when there is an iPhone in range and associated with the same Apple Account and with what Apple calls Continuity enabled.

Neither iPad nor Mac have cellular (voice) communications.

iPad can (optionally) have cellular (data) communications, in addition to Wi-Fi communications.

Your Android phone has cellular (voice) communications, and that usually also includes SMS and RCS communications. Same as iPhone.

The confusing part: SMS and RCS are tied to cellular (voice) communications. Not cellular (data) communications.

Chat can use other protocols, typically using IP network connections, and those connections can occur via cellular (data) connections, or via Wi-Fi network connections.

Most other devices either have no cellular (voice) communications and use Wi-Fi, or have Wi-Fi and cellular data. These do not have (direct) SMS or RCS, because they have no cellular (voice) capabilities.

Chat via Wi-Fi works fine.

Chat via cellular (data) communications works fine.

Chat involving SMS and RCS needs cellular (voice) communications accessible directly on the local device, or indirectly via a function such as Continuity and cellular (voice) communications capabilities on another associated device.

Apple Messages supports the Apple iMessage protocol, and supports SMS and RCS where available. Similarly, Google Messages app also supports SMS and RCS when that path is available, and its own Google-related protocols when IP network connections are available.

Other chat apps can or will use other protocols, some involving SMS and RCS, and others involving IP network connections via cellular (data) connections or Wi-Fi communications.

MrHoffman wrote:

The confusing part: SMS and RCS are tied to cellular (voice) communications. Not cellular (data) communications.

Are you certain that RCS requires cellular (voice)? That was not my understanding. However, you are frequently more knowledgeable than I on many things.

Additionally, RCS is IP-based, instead of the Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) standard that SMS uses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services

AFAIK, RCS tied to the carrier, and the cellular modems used for phones differ from the data modems used on iPad and other devices. I’d expect the phone chipsets are more expensive too, but I’ve not looked for price lists.

Most cellular comms are IP-based now, yes. That’s a big part of what LTE provides.

Last I checked, RCS had been a nearly-gone (“zombie”) telephony protocol design effort, and one that I’ve wondered whether was resuscitated to allow metadata collection via Google Jibe or other such servers, and also to keep the importance of the carriers’ own chat connections against the “over the top” (OTT) chat connections widely available via cellular (data) traffic.

Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are all using Google Jibe servers for RCS too, IIRC.

Related: https://web.archive.org/web/20240709005644/https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/technologies/networks/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IDC-report.RCS-market-prospects.December2012.pdf

MrHoffman wrote:

AFAIK, RCS tied to the carrier, and the cellular modems used for phones differ from the data modems used on iPad and other devices. I’d expect the phone chipsets are more expensive too, but I’ve not looked for price lists.

Most cellular comms are IP-based now, yes. That’s a big part of what LTE provides.

Last I checked, RCS had been a nearly-gone (“zombie”) telephony protocol design effort, and one that I’ve wondered whether was resuscitated to allow metadata collection via Google Jibe or other such servers, and also to keep the importance of the carriers’ own chat connections against the “over the top” (OTT) chat connections widely available via cellular (data) traffic.

Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are all using Google Jibe servers for RCS too, IIRC.

Related: https://web.archive.org/web/20240709005644/https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/technologies/networks/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IDC-report.RCS-market-prospects.December2012.pdf

Thanks! I'll look at that and leave it for now. Apologies to the original poster for needlessly complicating things.