Sending iMessage to iPhone that doesn't have a data plan as SMS

[iMore Question]

I've asked the Geniuses and called Apple about this one and they have been stumped.

My kids have new iPhone SEs. They also have iPads and Mac laptops. (okay, they are spoiled). They use iMessage attached to their Apple IDs. My wife and I have iPhones too.

Our phone plan for them has no data. Our phone plan for us has data.

So, we want to SMS them when they are away from home and away from WiFi. Just like we did when they had cheaper phones (Windows phones - not as bad as their rep)

How can I force my iPhone to send them an SMS to their phone number, so their iMessage app receives a green bubble SMS?

Should be easy, right? Nope. The iPhone looks up their details, sees their number is registered with iMessage, and sends them an iMessage (data) thru the data network which arrives promptly at their iPad or Mac, and says "Delivered". Their phone doesn't get the iMessage until it reaches a WiFi zone.

So this is useless. The whole point of getting them phones and a phone plan was so we could text them when they take the bus home or to sports. And it no longer works until they have Wifi. Which makes me think we should have given them iPod Touches or kept their perfectly working Windows Phones.

As mentioned, this stumped the Apple Tech. It also stumped the Senior Apple Tech. I'm currently waiting to hear back from "Engineering" but in my experience they aren't very helpful at this point. I'm still waiting for a call back about an iBooks bug from the summer of 2014.

Thanks to any real Genius that comes up with a solution.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Welcome to iMore! I'm not sure what you need to do. Apple has recently changed some things with iMessage and SMS. Before the latest update, I could forward text messages to My iCloud email. Now I can't. It just doesn't work. I'll be calling support tomorrow. I have several things to discuss. I'll ask about your issue as well. Interesting! You can leave feedback for Apple here:
Feedback
https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html#mn_p

 

[Just_Me_D]

Unless I misread your post which is indeed possible, especially being that I'm watching a very competitive NBA game right now, all you have to do is disable iMessage on their iPhone SE devices in the Message settings. That will allow them to receive the green SMS messages.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Unless I misread your post which is indeed possible, especially being that I'm watching a very competitive NBA game right now, all you have to do is disable iMessage on their iPhone SE devices in the Message settings. That will allow them to receive the green SMS messages.

That may work. But it's what I had been doing in order to forward an iMessage to my iCloud email. But it no longer works since the update.

 

[Wotchered]

Do you have a text message allowance on your (mum&dad) accounts ?
I don't understand why they should turn off iMessage cos I get both SMS & iMessages and if wifi where I am is a bit iffy my message will go as a SMS and will be received as such on iPhones that have iMessage set up.

 

[DieterHarris]

Just_Me_D:

Yes, and Thank You!

However this prevents them from receiving any iMessages from their friends while on WiFi. It also prevents them from using Facetime, which also needs to be deleted in order to de-register the number from Apple, according to the Geniuses.

But Yes, your solution is the only one I've found so far which forces MY iPhone to send an SMS to Her Number.

 

[DieterHarris]

Do you have a text message allowance on your (mum&dad) accounts ?
I don't understand why they should turn off iMessage cos I get both SMS & iMessages and if wifi where I am is a bit iffy my message will go as a SMS and will be received as such on iPhones that have iMessage set up.

I agree - it doesn't make sense. However, the iMessage server will grab the Text Message sent from my phone and decide not to send it via SMS, because her phone ## is registered as an iMessage account. It will then try to use the Data network to send her the iMessage Text, which doesn't work because she doesn't have Data!

 

[Just_Me_D]

Just_Me_D:

Yes, and Thank You!

However this prevents them from receiving any iMessages from their friends while on WiFi. It also prevents them from using Facetime, which also needs to be deleted in order to de-register the number from Apple, according to the Geniuses.

But Yes, your solution is the only one I've found so far which forces MY iPhone to send an SMS to Her Number.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but you're in a catch-22. Apple instituted iMessage in part to make texting between their products free, and that's probably why they register numbers associated with iOS devices. Sending message via SMS has been relegated to backup status unless, of course, the recipients do not have an iOS device. Still, your situation bucks the norm because of your arrangement. Your kids have iPhones without a data plan which limits their text messaging capabilities unless they're online via Wi-Fi for iMessages or if they disable iMessages for the sole purpose of sending and receiving SMS messages, but you cannot have it both way without a data plan - at least not that I'm aware of. II wonder what would happen if Apple could remove only the phone number from iMessage but allow the kids to continue using their Apple IDs for iMessage & FaceTime purposes? Would that then allow them to receive SMS messages when not connected to Wi-Fi?

 

[nikkisharif]

Just press and hold the message you're sending & choose send as text message when the option appears.

 

[Wotchered]

Cool...if true.

 

[richardlau]

Just press and hold the message you're sending & choose send as text message when the option appears.

This works BUT you need to telepathically know that they aren't receiving your messages because they aren't currently on wifi. So, you have to look and see if it says "delivered" and then just send it again as an SMS.

I wouldn't say that the Original Poster's situation is "unique". I'd say it's actually very common. For my family, we eventually just caved and got iphones for everyone along with data for every one. I think the kicker was when I arrived at the school on time to pick up my son from a field trip, he arrived an hour later. Once he pulled in on the school bus, his iphone connected to the school wifi and only then did I receive a "sent" imessage informing me that he would be late.

Yeah, so an hour of my time is worth a lot more than the data plan for my son. He now has data to make my life easier. Should buy stock in Apple and my carrier.

Seems like a poor design, that they (Apple) would definitely have considered but instead said "screw it, those people should get a family data plan".