iMessage only showing up on iphone4, not on ipad

[Michaelsplint]

Hi

I have an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2 - both with iOS 5 installed. From presentation videos and keynotes, I was under the assumption that when using iMessage on either idevice, the conversation would continue on the other idevice - this just isn't happening for me...

If I start a chat with a person on my iPhone, it does NOT appear on my iPad - if I do it the other way round however - it does appear on the iPhone...

Any idea why?

 

[MacDawg]

Are you using your phone number or an email address?
The iPad doesn't deal with the phone number, only email addresses

 

[Michaelsplint]

Are you using your phone number or an email address?
The iPad doesn't deal with the phone number, only email addresses

in my phone pref/iMessage, it says "receive on 2 add" "you can receive on phone no + email (my apple id)

on iPad it only has the apple id (of course because the sim in the iPad doesn't have my phone no.)

so if I want to start a chat on the phone that will continue on the iPad - what to do?

 

[mrtune]

in my phone pref/iMessage, it says "receive on 2 add" "you can receive on phone no + email (my apple id)

on iPad it only has the apple id (of course because the sim in the iPad doesn't have my phone no.)

so if I want to start a chat on the phone that will continue on the iPad - what to do?

People who send you an iMessage need to send it to you via your email address. Then both of your devices will receive it. If the person on the other end sends it to your phone number, only iPhone gets it.

You can also go into the iMessage settings and set your caller id to your email address. By default it's your phone number. While I haven't tested it, I assume that if you initiate the conversation, when they respond it'll go to your email address, so your iPad can get the message.

 

[iMrNiceGuy0023]

how do you select what to choose from? Wheter it be number or email?

 

[Michaelsplint]

People who send you an iMessage need to send it to you via your email address. Then both of your devices will receive it. If the person on the other end sends it to your phone number, only iPhone gets it.

can you turn off the phone no. somewhere then? So it automatically chooses the email?

That way I can only iMessage people with iOS 5 - which is not all that many...

 

[mrtune]

can you turn off the phone no. somewhere then? So it automatically chooses the email?

That way I can only iMessage people with iOS 5 - which is not all that many...

I updated my post a little late and missed this. In the iMessage settings, you can set your caller id. Change from your phone number to your email address.

 

[Michaelsplint]

I updated my post a little late and missed this. In the iMessage settings, you can set your caller id. Change from your phone number to your email address.

ok. but what if the person I send an im, doesn't have an iPhone? will it automatically change over to phone number?

 

[mrtune]

ok. but what if the person I send an im, doesn't have an iPhone? will it automatically change over to phone number?

That's a good question. I haven't tested that out. All my friends and family use iPhones, so I can't test that situation easily.

 

[gdjsnyder]

ok. but what if the person I send an im, doesn't have an iPhone? will it automatically change over to phone number?

Yes, if the person does't have an iPhone, or iMessage for the matter, your phone number will be received by the other person. The caller ID is only for iMessage, not for SMS.

 

[urkel]

If I start a chat with a person on my iPhone, it does NOT appear on my iPad - if I do it the other way round however - it does appear on the iPhone...

Any idea why?

I feel that either its a bug or they're advertising it wrong because the impression many people get is that Text Messaging to iOS devices offers this shared experience between your personal iOS devices and your carrier phone number somehow integrates itself. But in reality then conversations need to exist purely within the iMessaging world which means it has to be originated directly from your assigned user ID in order for it to span your iOS devices.

It kinda makes sense but its definitely not the "amazing world changing experience" feeling you get when they showed it off in the demo because, like so many other things about iO5, its a lot more complicated than Apple fans are used to.

 

[xraydoc]

I feel that either its a bug or they're advertising it wrong because the impression many people get is that Text Messaging to iOS devices offers this shared experience between your personal iOS devices and your carrier phone number somehow integrates itself. But in reality then conversations need to exist purely within the iMessaging world which means it has to be originated directly from your assigned user ID in order for it to span your iOS devices.

It kinda makes sense but its definitely not the "amazing world changing experience" feeling you get when they showed it off in the demo because, like so many other things about iO5, its a lot more complicated than Apple fans are used to.

Perhaps, but similar to what BlackBerry users are used to (PIN versus iCloud ID).

 

[Pheo]

I feel that either its a bug or they're advertising it wrong because the impression many people get is that Text Messaging to iOS devices offers this shared experience between your personal iOS devices and your carrier phone number somehow integrates itself. But in reality then conversations need to exist purely within the iMessaging world which means it has to be originated directly from your assigned user ID in order for it to span your iOS devices.

It kinda makes sense but its definitely not the "amazing world changing experience" feeling you get when they showed it off in the demo because, like so many other things about iO5, its a lot more complicated than Apple fans are used to.

Agree; don't see how, as Apple knows the association between email/ID and phone number, so why can it not route to iPad? Doesn't make any sense, given it can identify just from phone number and route via iMessage already!

 

[haruhiko]

I'm able to receive iMessages from my iPad even if the other people are sending me the iMessage via my phone number.

 

[WannaGoMac]

I'm able to receive iMessages from my iPad even if the other people are sending me the iMessage via my phone number.

Surprising since that idoesn't wolrk supposedly.

 

[Michaelsplint]

I updated my post a little late and missed this. In the iMessage settings, you can set your caller id. Change from your phone number to your email address.

Tried it - and it works! Thanks

 

[Pagemakers]

If you change the caller ID to your email address and you are not on wifi will you still receive the messages?

I think not. I've just landed abroad on a trip with work. I didn't receive several iMasseges from a mate until I was on wifi. This was after swapping my ID from phone to email.

However other people who sent messages to my phone number, their messages arrived as text messages OK.

Seems to me that is iMessage thing needs a little bit more thought!

 

[xraydoc]

If you change the caller ID to your email address and you are not on wifi will you still receive the messages?

I think not. I've just landed abroad on a trip with work. I didn't receive several iMasseges from a mate until I was on wifi. This was after swapping my ID from phone to email.

While I can't explain your issue, it works perfectly fine for me without wifi.

 

[magmasilk]

???

If you change the caller ID to your email address will it start a new conversation thread?

 

[Pagemakers]

If you add your email address to the caller ID as well as your phone number you can have multiple conversations with those messaging you, dependant on if they are using your email address or phone number.

Very annoying and confusing.

 

[ashameer]

You fail to understand the difference between iMessage and SMS. iMessages need an active data connection, SMS its sent over the carriers network, so without data, iMessage will not work. I gather you didn´t activate Data Roaming on your device, which is a good thing, cause it can be horribly expensive, so no Data - no iMessage.

If you change the caller ID to your email address and you are not on wifi will you still receive the messages?

I think not. I've just landed abroad on a trip with work. I didn't receive several iMasseges from a mate until I was on wifi. This was after swapping my ID from phone to email.

However other people who sent messages to my phone number, their messages arrived as text messages OK.

Seems to me that is iMessage thing needs a little bit more thought!

 

[Pagemakers]

Actually I do understand the difference between the two.

My point is….You start an iMessage conversation with somebody. Then they, unknowingly to you go away on a 4 week holiday and they have no active internet connection.

You send them another message and the Apple servers know your recipient does not have an active connection so the message is sent to them as an SMS instead.

That’s the theory, but it does not work.

If you already have a iMessage conversation going with recipient X, your messages will still be sent as undeliverable iMessages - You will send them and they won’t receive them. If on the other hand you have not got an existing conversation going with this person your message would be delivered as a SMS.

The switching between SMS and iMessage is supposed to be intelligently automatic.

It is not.

iMessage and SMS is a combined application. How on earth are you supposed to know if your recipient is on a data connection or not.

Like I say, this is find for NEW conversations but not for existing ones.

 

[tack1]

I agree that this feature is not what I imagined. I thought my iPad was going to be get the messages once I connected both addresses on my iPhone. I don't want to set my caller ID to my email as I travel internationally a lot, and I need to get my messages. I also hate that it shows multiple conversations depending on to which address someone sent you a message. I hope they change the way this works.

Ultimately I was looking for a desktop client to complete the package. That plus group messaging would kill BBM and many IM clients, and it would be a killer feature.

 

[Pagemakers]

A spanish friend whom I iMessage with came to stay for a few days with me in the UK. Like most people he has international roaming turned off.

When I left him at the airport to go home I sent him a “safe flight home” message.

Surprise, surprise it sent as an iMessage even though he was not on a data network. The app would not allow me to resend as an SMS.

Several hours later when he arrived in Spain and connected to a data network, my message arrived.

It’s an fundamental bug. Simple as that.