Text Message Forwarding

[hounslowfish]

I can confirm that this feature does *not* require the iPhone to be on the same wifi network as the other device.

Indeed, it works with the iPhone wifi and bluetooth switched off and the iPhone only connected to the net over cellular!

So you don't even need your phone with you - you could leave it at home when you travel and SMS from overseas via wifi!!

 

[fronesis]

Try this: Go to your iPhone Messages settings and turn off iMessages and turn it on again. Then go to the iMessages Settings on your Mac and do the same. After that it worked for me. Also make sure to activate your telephone number in the iMessages settings on your Mac.

This worked for me. For some reason my iPhone phone number was not listed as an active address (it had been previously) either in Messages on my Mac OR EVEN in my iPhone. So these steps worked:

1) Turn messages off, then on, on Phone.
2) Go to messages on Mac and tick the box to add the iPhone phone number as an address.
3) Turn on text message forwarding and enter the code (which came up at this point for the first time for me).

thanks for the help!

 

[HenryDJP]

I can confirm that this feature does *not* require the iPhone to be on the same wifi network as the other device.

Indeed, it works with the iPhone wifi and bluetooth switched off and the iPhone only connected to the net over cellular!

So you don't even need your phone with you - you could leave it at home when you travel and SMS from overseas via wifi!!

EDIT: Nevermind. I just tested this and you're right.

Anyways I got mine my iPad and iPhone to finally speak to each other. I had to shut off the messages app on the iPhone in Settings. After shutting it off and on 3 times a message finally appeared asking if I wanted to connect to my iPad for messaging through cellular. I clicked yes and the code appeared on the iPad. Typed it in and now it's working.

 

[Multicolor]

Guys, I do not have a phone number field neither on my Mac, neither on iPhone. Only a list of iCloud and gmail emails. Any ideas of fixing it?

 

[StevenWalker]

Try this:
Go to your iPhone Messages settings and turn off iMessages and turn it on again.

Then go to the iMessages Settings on your Mac and do the same.

After that it worked for me.

Also make sure to activate your telephone number in the iMessages settings on your Mac.

Yep, works perfectly after doing this.

----------

I can confirm that this feature does *not* require the iPhone to be on the same wifi network as the other device.

How are you confirming?
What tests did you perform?
thx..

 

[Spink10]

Does iMessage only see contacts from iCloud? I have my google contacts in my Contacts App but cannot see them when I try to send a text via SMS Relay.

 

[0000111]

This worked for me. For some reason my iPhone phone number was not listed as an active address (it had been previously) either in Messages on my Mac OR EVEN in my iPhone. So these steps worked:

1) Turn messages off, then on, on Phone.
2) Go to messages on Mac and tick the box to add the iPhone phone number as an address.
3) Turn on text message forwarding and enter the code (which came up at this point for the first time for me).

how long did it take for the code to show up for you? I'm still waiting for my laptop or iPad to show anything...

 

[valpro]

Working solution for SMS forwarding

Make sure both wifi and blutooth switch on all your devices.Then just restart your iPhone,.Then try to enable message forwarding .You will get your code on Mac and ipad

 

[0000111]

Make sure both wifi and blutooth switch on all your devices.Then just restart your iPhone,.Then try to enable message forwarding .You will get your code on Mac and ipad

Hm.. I'll try that now. What kind of window does the code come in?

In general, does bluetooth need to be on to do SMS relay? or can it run over just wifi?

 

[cynics]

*Sigh* Another it just doesn't work feature. I've done everything listed in this thread several times and I still don't get the "code".

Its trying to do something because if I close Messages on my Mac and go through the process the Message program will open up but it still won't give me a code.

Once I eventually figure it out I'm going to have to try to explain how to get it to work for my mother over the phone as she's having the same problem. Thoughts of suicide briefly went through my head just thinking about dealing with that. Damnt apple.

I wonder if maybe some servers are overloaded and this will fix itself?

 

[Crooks]

*Sigh* Another it just doesn't work feature. I've done everything listed in this thread several times and I still don't get the "code".

Its trying to do something because if I close Messages on my Mac and go through the process the Message program will open up but it still won't give me a code.

Once I eventually figure it out I'm going to have to try to explain how to get it to work for my mother over the phone as she's having the same problem. Thoughts of suicide briefly went through my head just thinking about dealing with that. Damnt apple.

I wonder if maybe some servers are overloaded and this will fix itself?

I tried everything and then I saw someone over at iDB comment that I need an email enabled. I enabled my email on both my Mac and my iPhone and then tried again, and it worked.

 

[JoelBC]

I tried everything and then I saw someone over at iDB comment that I need an email enabled. I enabled my email on both my Mac and my iPhone and then tried again, and it worked.

Correct...

I also tested whether the e-mail address(es) could then be deselected (i.e. after the code had been successfully entered) and the answer (at least in my testing0 is no...in particular, subsequent deselecting the e-mail address resulted in SMS messages not being sent from my MBA (i.e. they had the red exclamation mark that the SMS was not being sent).

Not how I wanted in to work as I only wanted to be reached on my iPhone via my phone number but it appears that I need to forfeit this setup to get continuity to work...sighh

 

[cynics]

I tried everything and then I saw someone over at iDB comment that I need an email enabled. I enabled my email on both my Mac and my iPhone and then tried again, and it worked.

Correct...

I also tested whether the e-mail address(es) could then be deselected (i.e. after the code had been successfully entered) and the answer (at least in my testing0 is no...in particular, subsequent deselecting the e-mail address resulted in SMS messages not being sent from my MBA (i.e. they had the red exclamation mark that the SMS was not being sent).

Not how I wanted in to work as I only wanted to be reached on my iPhone via my phone number but it appears that I need to forfeit this setup to get continuity to work...sighh

Thanks guys.

That seems to have done the trick. However here is my testing if this helps anyone.

Enabled email account on my iPhone and Mac and tried again and got the code.

I then turned OFF email account on my Mac, it works.

I then turned OFF email account on my iPhone, doesn't work.

I then turned ON email account on my Mac, doesn't work.

Tried several different ways of doing this but an email account has to be enabled on the phone, doesn't have to be AppleID email just linked to iMessage in message preferences/settings. Turning email accounts off on the Mac and it still works.

I really don't like this setup, I'll need to weigh my options of whether its more important to get SMS on my Mac or disable email accounts on my iPhone. The main reason I don't like this setup is when I ignore a phone call with "reply with message" for some reason it uses my email. I don't want to hand out my personal email to people calling me plus its confusing for the caller to get a message from an unknown email address (xxx@xxxx.com In a meeting call you back in 5 minutes). And yes I have start new conversations from my phone number.

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

I can confirm that this feature does *not* require the iPhone to be on the same wifi network as the other device.

Indeed, it works with the iPhone wifi and bluetooth switched off and the iPhone only connected to the net over cellular!

So you don't even need your phone with you - you could leave it at home when you travel and SMS from overseas via wifi!!

Wow...didnʻt know I could turn off Bluetooth and Wifi and still have text messages work. Thanks for the info.

However, I donʻt know if itʻd work overseas as you mention. I tried turning off my iPhone and sending a text and it got stuck and wouldnʻt send. Then when I turned the phone back on, it sent.

***EDIT > Or, I guess it could work according to the post below. As long as you leave your iPhone on before you go overseas.

What Iʻm curious about is how my laptop is able to send a regular text message, which should be going through my iPhone, if theyʻre not connected in any way. How is the relay occurring?

 

[Ledgem]

Wow...didnʻt know I could turn off Bluetooth and Wifi and still have text messages work. Thanks for the info.

However, I donʻt know if itʻd work overseas as you mention. I tried turning off my iPhone and sending a text and it got stuck and wouldnʻt send. Then when I turned the phone back on, it sent.

What Iʻm curious about is how my laptop is able to send a regular text message, which should be going through my iPhone, if theyʻre not connected in any way. How is the relay occurring?

It's suspected at this point that it's going through Apple's servers. The computer (or other non-cellular device) sends the message to Apple's servers, the servers send the message to the iPhone, and the iPhone then sends the message to the cellular network. When the phone receives an SMS text, it sends the message to Apple's servers, which then distributes it to all of your devices.

In theory, as long as your phone is on and has an internet connection, it should be able to act as a relay for any of your devices that also have an internet connection, even if they're not on the same network.

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

It's suspected at this point that it's going through Apple's servers. The computer (or other non-cellular device) sends the message to Apple's servers, the servers send the message to the iPhone, and the iPhone then sends the message to the cellular network. When the phone receives an SMS text, it sends the message to Apple's servers, which then distributes it to all of your devices.

In theory, as long as your phone is on and has an internet connection, it should be able to act as a relay for any of your devices that also have an internet connection, even if they're not on the same network.

Great explanation! Thanks! I was really scratching my head over how it was working with Bluetooth and Wifi OFF. So then, I guess the post that I quoted earlier has some merit. If what youʻre saying is true, then one could take their laptop overseas, leave their iPhone at home on a charger, and text messages would continue to work normally.

 

[palmerc]

The iMessage Activation and Architecture

For those that are still struggling with this, you need to toggle on/off

• FaceTime
• iMessage

You also need to have iCloud on both the Mac and Phone/iPad on. The connection between the phone and the MacBook can be cellular or WiFi, it doesn't matter. It should be fairly obvious that this doesn't need to be the same WiFi or Bluetooth network since if that were required the usefulness of this feature would be zero. A lot of those early iMessage/FaceTime activations didn't seem to be 100%, for example you'll see that a user is sending/receiving from an email address rather than their cell number. This could be a choice, but it also could be because they have a partial activation that doesn't include their cell number. This requires reactivation on the phone and you'll see the phone number go from grayed-out to blue and checked off like the email addresses.

Additionally, my wife's account was screwed up because we had used a gmail address without the 'dot' when trying to switch her email, but later switched it to with a 'dot'. The iMessage side was still showing without on the Mac so I had to Sign Out of iMessage, change the email, and sign back in.

 

[JoelBC]

I really don't like this setup, I'll need to weigh my options of whether its more important to get SMS on my Mac or disable email accounts on my iPhone. The main reason I don't like this setup is when I ignore a phone call with "reply with message" for some reason it uses my email. I don't want to hand out my personal email to people calling me plus its confusing for the caller to get a message from an unknown email address (xxx@xxxx.com In a meeting call you back in 5 minutes). And yes I have start new conversations from my phone number.

Agreed...not only do I not like it for the reason that you mention but also because I don't want to receive iMessages and SMS on my phone from people who do not have my cell phone number which is "more protected" than my personal e-mail.

 

[flappah]

Try this: Go to your iPhone Messages settings and turn off iMessages and turn it on again. Then go to the iMessages Settings on your Mac and do the same. After that it worked for me. Also make sure to activate your telephone number in the iMessages settings on your Mac.

Thanks!!! That indeed solved it. Just turn off iMessage on the iPhone and turn it on again notifies all the other connected iMessage-apps that it is activated on an iPhone. Then it all works again!

 

[dovid1]

Text Message Forwarding

Had similar issues and thanks for all help on this theme
Eventually mine worked between iMac and iPhone 5S
It was a once only message with the verification code and I didn't realise I had entered it so tried again and it wouldn't work
So just tried the messaging and it seems OK???
Weird but true!!

 

[Dingthing]

Vexing

After many shutdown, retool and email checking etc I got this working on the Mac yesterday. Tried to get it on the iPad and lost it on the Mac, now can't get it back. This is woeful, 6 attempts and everything checked as per this and other threads. Dismal performance.

 

[kricxx]

activate email in iMessage

For the text message forwarding to work you have to activate your iMessage to send from your email as well as your phone number.

All you have to do is go to setting >Messages > Send & Receive > click on your email

I tried to set up the text message forwarding at least ten times without having my email turned on and it wouldn't work, and as soon as I turned my email on it immediacy worked, so I hope this helps!

 

[memo90061]

I finally got the code, and receive messages in the Messages app on the computer. Unfortunately, I can't reply! :'(

 

[hansbakken]

iPhone six, iOS 8.1 to iPad air iOS 8.1 working now

The forwarding was working well between my iPhone six and my old iMac. Could not get it to work for iPad air. Saw a tip here on this thread which worked for me.under the Gen. settings on the iPad, under the message app, had to enable the phone number as one of thesend and receive addresses. It was there, but it was unchecked for some reason.

 

[draven898]

The forwarding was working well between my iPhone six and my old iMac. Could not get it to work for iPad air. Saw a tip here on this thread which worked for me.under the Gen. settings on the iPad, under the message app, had to enable the phone number as one of thesend and receive addresses. It was there, but it was unchecked for some reason.

could you screen shot for me i don't see that