I plan on buying an iPhone and never activate iMessage as I will swap between my S7 Edge and iPhone. Can I still text my family members with iPhones without iMessage activated?
Yes you can, there is a simple option in the messages section of settings.
That's the one that reads SMS correct?
why do you need to do that ? my messaging app does iMessage and SMS according to what type of phone is on the receiving end without a hitch,always.
When you send a message from your iPhone you can always choose if you want to send it as iMessage or SMS. For none iphone users it will automatically send an sms.