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lake alice

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
39
1
Just purchased an iPad Pro. Come to realize you can send iMessage but not SMS. Apple support says I should be able to and AT&T says I can’t. Has anyone solved this little puzzle or is there a work around? For general life/work purposes I would like to be able to text from either my phone or iPad.
 

lake alice

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
39
1
Hey Shaun, apple support said not to do it that way. Somehow I would lose messages. So many conflicting methods.
Just to be clear I can send iMessages from my iPad I just can’t sent text messages to non-apple devices, the green texts.
 

Johnny365

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2015
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611
Before I couldn't receive shortcode text messages to my iPad, but after enabling forwarding, all texts work fine in/out.
 

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
The described method is the way to do it with the Messages app, so you need to decide if you want to send SMS from your iPad or not. I can't speak to the information you were given regarding losing messages, since it's unclear what messages they were talking about, and losing all was probably not what they meant.
 

lake alice

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
39
1
So by enabling text message forwarding I should be able to send and receive all text message from my iPad? Does it mirror what ever the phone does from a message standpoint? I’m kinda fuzzy about the whole thing.
 

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
I enabled it years ago so take that into consideration, but as I recall once the setting is enabled SMS messages sent and received from any of the participating devices will be synced across them. It will not sync past SMS messages to your iPad (or at least it didn't when I started using the feature).
 

Johnny365

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2015
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611
It only syncs past text messages if you have them backed up in icloud and do a restore. Otherwise the iPad iMessage app will show only new messages coming in.
 

King Of The Hill

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2021
7
18
So by enabling text message forwarding I should be able to send and receive all text message from my iPad? Does it mirror what ever the phone does from a message standpoint? I’m kinda fuzzy about the whole thing.
I will say it does make a difference if your phone is powered off. If I try to text from my MacBook or iPad and the phone is off then those messages to non-imessage numbers will go unsent.
 

Johnny365

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2015
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611
I will say it does make a difference if your phone is powered off. If I try to text from my MacBook or iPad and the phone is off then those messages to non-imessage numbers will go unsent.
It's the same way when you just use a Cellular Apple Watch and have the phone off, iMessage/Apple messages will work, but not SMS/Android whatever.
 
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ShaunFrancis

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2014
99
98
Conwy
So by enabling text message forwarding I should be able to send and receive all text message from my iPad? Does it mirror what ever the phone does from a message standpoint? I’m kinda fuzzy about the whole thing.
When I enable that I can send texts and also iMessage messages from my iPad, I am not sure if you need to have your iPhone nearby or if its not near by it might do it but uses apple servers to send it from your iPhone (if phone is on).

But I can send a text to my friends who don’t use iPhone and it goes through on my ipad as a green message and automatically shows up on my iPhone too.
 

King Of The Hill

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2021
7
18
When I enable that I can send texts and also iMessage messages from my iPad, I am not sure if you need to have your iPhone nearby or if its not near by it might do it but uses apple servers to send it from your iPhone (if phone is on).

But I can send a text to my friends who don’t use iPhone and it goes through on my ipad as a green message and automatically shows up on my iPhone too.
You don't have to have your phone nearby. I accidentally left my phone at home and took my iPad to work. I was able to get through the day between the messaging and calls showing up.
 

ShaunFrancis

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2014
99
98
Conwy
You don't have to have your phone nearby. I accidentally left my phone at home and took my iPad to work. I was able to get through the day between the messaging and calls showing up.
Brilliant, obviously I think you won’t notice it until you forget your phone which is rare these days. I do love apple for little features like this.
 

lake alice

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
39
1
So does anyone know why your cast send the green messages from an iPad with cellular AND WiFi?
 

iPad Bro

macrumors 6502
May 2, 2021
393
290
I was wondering why my SMS messages weren’t going through with this second M1 iPP like the first one, but I had to turn on forwarding on my iPhone. Pretty cool that you don’t need to have your iPhone with you to use SMS or take calls.
 

dohspc

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2008
449
773
Plano, TX
Just so you know even if you have a cellular iPad the sms/mms messaging still goes through the iPhone so your iPhone needs to have enough cellular reception to receive/send sms/mms messages or you will get the not delivered error on the iPad. Also as others mentioned text forwarding has to be turned on under Settings>Messages on the iPhone.

 
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