iPad Messages app on WiFi iPad

[Richard8655]

I'm not understanding how I can be receiving text messages through the IOS Messages app on my WiFi-only iPad. How does the system route a message sent from another iPhone to my non-cellular (no phone) iPad?

Can text messages be sent to an email address on an iPad and show up in the Messages app?

 

[casperes1996]

Blue bobbles can, yes. That’s iMessage and that can go through email addresses. Green bobbles requires having an iPhone connected to the same Apple ID

 

[Richard8655]

Thanks. But in my Messages app, received text messages are not color coded. I think that applies only to the iMessages app? So how to tell in Messages?

 

[jaytv111]

SMS messages it copies from your iPhone over data. That’s why this works as long as your iPhone is on and connected to the internet as well as your iPad connected to the internet (whether over cellular or WiFi).

iMessages get sent from the cloud to any Apple device you have signed in (and you’ve enabled iMessages). The iPhone could therefore be off or disconnected from the internet. Same for Facetime. Interestingly, WiFi calling can send phone calls to any Apple device too (that you’ve enabled for WiFi calling), but the iPhone doesn’t have to be on for the other devices to reach with phone calls, quite the opposite for SMS.

Also, Messages should show blue or green bubbles when you send a message. Or it says in the dialog box where you type your message if it’s “Text Message” (SMS) or iMessage.

 

[Richard8655]

Yes, I had suspected that. So since I also have an iPhone, text messages sent to that phone number get synced to my WiFi iPad when both are turned on and connected to the same WiFi network? In the Messages app on my iPad, all incoming message bubbles are in gray. Curious that they don't differentiate as blue or green.

 

[casperes1996]

Thanks. But in my Messages app, received text messages are not color coded. I think that applies only to the iMessages app? So how to tell in Messages?

Wha? There is no such thing as an "iMessages app". Messages is the app that houses both SMS and iMessage
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Yes, I had suspected that. So since I also have an iPhone, text messages sent to that phone number get synced to my WiFi iPad when both are turned on and connected to the same WiFi network? In the Messages app on my iPad, all incoming message bubbles are in gray. Curious that they don't differentiate as blue or green.

That is correct.

Just to clarify, it is the colour of YOUR bubbles that will be colour-coded. Usually a thread will continue with the same message-form so if yours are blue you can expect the person on the other end to also be using iMessage

 

[jaytv111]

Yes, I had suspected that. So since I also have an iPhone, text messages sent to that phone number get synced to my WiFi iPad when both are turned on and connected to the same WiFi network? In the Messages app on my iPad, all incoming message bubbles are in gray. Curious that they don't differentiate as blue or green.

Doesn’t need to be on the same WiFi network, they just need to be connected to the internet. One could be on cellular, the other WiFi, etc.


Messages that you receive aren’t color coded and never were, it informs you when you send a message if it will be SMS or iMessage, and your messages will be color coded to indicate how the conversation has been sent.

 

[Richard8655]

Wha? There is no such thing as an "iMessages app". Messages is the app that houses both SMS and iMessage
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That is correct.

Just to clarify, it is the colour of YOUR bubbles that will be colour-coded. Usually a thread will continue with the same message-form so if yours are blue you can expect the person on the other end to also be using iMessage

Thanks for the clarification. Since I hardly do any IOS messaging and am mostly iPad oriented (not iPhone) using Google Voice for texting, pardon my confusion between Messages and iMessages. Hence my questions here. The syncing between iPhone and iPad for messages was key in my understanding in how this works.