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.
iMac (M4)
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.
Thanks for that response. It is not surprising my knowledge is incomplete. That is why I am here asking questions. I have never owned an iPhone. I never had an iPad and am still learning it. I have always seen Messages on my Mac but have never used it and wondered what it did. I have no idea what SMS, MMS, or RCS is. My android phone I can text, phone call, and use contacts. I recently started using notes. Usually when I get a new computer the first thing I do is shut everything off. No iCloud. No notifications. No widgets. My old MacBook Pro, which I believe is 14 years old I think I downloaded 2 apps in 14 years. This time I am taking the opposite approach and I am turning on everything and signing up for everything. I plan on at least trying every app on my iMac and iPad. Just to see what they do. It is fun but it is a long learning curve.
You have a cell phone, so you can get a Google Voice number. Your Android is just fine for the purpose in getting a Google Voice number. As I posted the other day, go to https://voice.google.com and sign up it really is free.
Thanks for that. I guess if I wanted to I could go out and get the cheapest cell phone plan I can find. Usually that is around $15 a month. I guess as long as I have that cell phone number the Google Voice will work. Thanks again!
Of course, there is no such thing as cellular voice anymore. It is all VoLTE or over 5G.
Thanks. Please read my response.
Emmett_1944 wrote:
Is that it?
That’s it, but there are many messaging apps that also work with WiFi and don’t require Apple devices: WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Google Meet, Facebook Messenger, etc.
Duplicate
I just doubled-checked. It's free but you do need a cellular phone number as well.
OK. Thanks. I guess if I need a cell phone to use it that might defeat the purpose.
You said you had an Android phone. Do you not?
Can I use M4 iMac or M3 iPad Air to exchange text messages with cell phones?
