When you send a message, what determines whether it's an iMessage or an SMS?

I send a message to my daughter, who has a Samsung phone, and it's an SMS (green); when I send to my brother, who also does NOT have an iPhone, it's send as iMessage (blue), and HE DOESN'T GET IT. I want to know how to tell my phone to send SMS to my brother, not iMessage.

iPhone 11

Posted on Jun 29, 2020 5:53 PM

Reply
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 29, 2020 6:40 PM

Because your brother told Apple‘s iMessage server that he had an iPhone and never told them otherwise. Go to settings/messages and turn on Send as SMS. If iMessage fails it will then resend as SMS.


if he has iMessage on the iPad it will send to the iPad. He can turn that off.

5 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Jun 29, 2020 6:40 PM in response to goatcabin

Because your brother told Apple‘s iMessage server that he had an iPhone and never told them otherwise. Go to settings/messages and turn on Send as SMS. If iMessage fails it will then resend as SMS.


if he has iMessage on the iPad it will send to the iPad. He can turn that off.

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

When you send a message, what determines whether it's an iMessage or an SMS?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.