[hollidizzle]

I think what people really want is an exclusive iDevice to iDevice chat client. Much how Macs have iChat. Blackberrys have BBM. Hell Yahoo has yahoo messenger. Gmail has Gchat. The problem arises trying to get all of your friends on one accord. 2 of your friends have yahoo. 1 has Whatsapp. none have iChat. 3 Have LiveProfile. But they all have iphones. Not to say texting/iMessaging doesn't work, "chatting" is just often more fun and more engaging and it would be nice to have a dedicated chat client exclusive to all iDevices. With all that being said, I think that's what a lot of people envisioned iMessage to be...

[noaim]

I think what people really want is an exclusive iDevice to iDevice chat client. Much how Macs have iChat. Blackberrys have BBM. Hell Yahoo has yahoo messenger. Gmail has Gchat. The problem arises trying to get all of your friends on one accord. 2 of your friends have yahoo. 1 has Whatsapp. none have iChat. 3 Have LiveProfile. But they all have iphones. Not to say texting/iMessaging doesn't work, "chatting" is just often more fun and more engaging and it would be nice to have a dedicated chat client exclusive to all iDevices. With all that being said, I think that's what a lot of people envisioned iMessage to be...

ichat uses aol instant messenger or gtalk...

[Tillsworth]

I think what people really want is an exclusive iDevice to iDevice chat client. Much how Macs have iChat. Blackberrys have BBM. Hell Yahoo has yahoo messenger. Gmail has Gchat. The problem arises trying to get all of your friends on one accord. 2 of your friends have yahoo. 1 has Whatsapp. none have iChat. 3 Have LiveProfile. But they all have iphones. Not to say texting/iMessaging doesn't work, "chatting" is just often more fun and more engaging and it would be nice to have a dedicated chat client exclusive to all iDevices. With all that being said, I think that's what a lot of people envisioned iMessage to be...

I think once more people update to iOS5, iMessaging will become more widespread. It's only been out for just over a week, and the 4s has been available for less time, so obviously relatively few people will have it compared to the number of people that have iPhones. I believe it can become the 'iDevice to iDevice' chat medium people want.

Personally, iMessage does everything i'd want from a 'chat' app - read receipts, ability to see when the other person is typing. I don't see the point in status updates etc, never used them on my Blackberry.

[ADGrant]

I think what people really want is an exclusive iDevice to iDevice chat client. Much how Macs have iChat. Blackberrys have BBM. Hell Yahoo has yahoo messenger. Gmail has Gchat. The problem arises trying to get all of your friends on one accord. 2 of your friends have yahoo. 1 has Whatsapp. none have iChat. 3 Have LiveProfile. But they all have iphones. Not to say texting/iMessaging doesn't work, "chatting" is just often more fun and more engaging and it would be nice to have a dedicated chat client exclusive to all iDevices. With all that being said, I think that's what a lot of people envisioned iMessage to be...

That;s pretty much what iMessage is.

[Icyhot1966]

I personally love iMessage. I don't have a texting plan simply because of iMessage.

[ADGrant]

Its one reason I switched from Blackberry (iCloud and location based reminders were other reasons).

[jackson1714]

So we just send a text to the person and if they have ios5 it's sent via imessage if not we pay out of our price plan? How would we know if they had ios5 or not?

before you type the text is says, imessage if the person has an iphone, if not it says text. the imessage bubbles are blue and the text are green. its really simple to use and i like it because you can send messages via wifi if your in a place where you get bad reception.

[Duvi]

Like some have mentioned, it'll work for those on iPad/iPod devices. One thing I found very awesome was that I was able to send an iMessage to a phone number from my iPad 2.

I also loved the fact that I sent someone some screenshots from my 4s and it showed up on my iPad. It was awesome.

Some may not have unlimited messaging plans (T-mo or Verizon). Heck, maybe the $20 is too much and don't even have the only data plan available on at&t (unlimited for $20 -- individual plans).

[serwan]

U know ipad useres like me can send message to number iphone users without any problem

[hollidizzle]

That;s pretty much what iMessage is.

No it's not. It's the same as texting. I'm talking about a full fledged chat app/interface. Not the little "tweaks" iMessage provides.

[ADGrant]

No it's not. It's the same as texting. I'm talking about a full fledged chat app/interface. Not the little "tweaks" iMessage provides.

It seems to have a full fledged chat interface (as long as both parties turn on read receipts.

I am very happy it works like it does. When I had a BB, I had only two contacts. Mostly because almost everyone I know does not use a BB as a personal phone but also because some of those that did, refused to use BBM.

[Tillsworth]

No it's not. It's the same as texting. I'm talking about a full fledged chat app/interface. Not the little "tweaks" iMessage provides.

Just wondering, what features would you prefer iMessage to have? Are you talking about things like status updates and display pictures and that kind of thing?

[hollidizzle]

Just wondering, what features would you prefer iMessage to have? Are you talking about things like status updates and display pictures and that kind of thing?

Honestly, I really don't care about status updates nor profile pics.. B/c pics can be set thru contacts. I think I just want a way to differentiate iMessages & iMessage users from regular contacts. Oh and the ability to create set groups.

[lshartle]

I don't really see the comparison between BBM besides the fact it sends delivered/read receipts.
BBM allows you to add avatars, it tells you when the other person is typing and it has groups. And now I believe they've somehow incorporated gaming also.

And as for having to add a person to BBM by PIN only that's not true, you can also use their email address and if I remember correctly, their phone number too.

BBM is the ONLY feature I miss from BlackBerry, I used it quite often.

@iLynn7 - go to settings, Messages and that is where you will find all the iMessage settings

@Dean211284 - you can tell by when you've selected a person to message, you will either see iMessage or Text Message appear in the text input bar

Hope that helps

[AStranger]

I don't really see the comparison between BBM besides the fact it sends delivered/read receipts.
BBM allows you to add avatars, it tells you when the other person is typing and it has groups. And now I believe they've somehow incorporated gaming also.

And as for having to add a person to BBM by PIN only that's not true, you can also use their email address and if I remember correctly, their phone number too.

BBM is the ONLY feature I miss from BlackBerry, I used it quite often.

@iLynn7 - go to settings, Messages and that is where you will find all the iMessage settings

@Dean211284 - you can tell by when you've selected a person to message, you will either see iMessage or Text Message appear in the text input bar

Hope that helps

For the record, iMessage does tell you when the other person is typing also.

[ADGrant]

I don't really see the comparison between BBM besides the fact it sends delivered/read receipts.
BBM allows you to add avatars, it tells you when the other person is typing and it has groups. And now I believe they've somehow incorporated gaming also.

And as for having to add a person to BBM by PIN only that's not true, you can also use their email address and if I remember correctly, their phone number too.

BBM is the ONLY feature I miss from BlackBerry, I used it quite often.

@iLynn7 - go to settings, Messages and that is where you will find all the iMessage settings

@Dean211284 - you can tell by when you've selected a person to message, you will either see iMessage or Text Message appear in the text input bar

Hope that helps

Groups would be useful. Never saw the point in Avatars.

[lshartle]

For the record, iMessage does tell you when the other person is typing also.

You are correct, thank you

[ToddP0530#AC]

I hope Apple fixes this: We have three devices in our home used by three different people but all tied to the same iTunes account. You can't use iMessage because it shows up as a message sent to yourself. So if my wife is messaging me from her iPad to my iPhone, my daughter can see those messages on her iPod Touch. Or any combination of those three. Would be nice if each device had its own ID number instead of being tied to the iTunes username. Unless someone else has a fix for this, that's the problem I'm having.

[E_Brown]

I hope Apple fixes this: We have three devices in our home used by three different people but all tied to the same iTunes account. You can't use iMessage because it shows up as a message sent to yourself. So if my wife is messaging me from her iPad to my iPhone, my daughter can see those messages on her iPod Touch. Or any combination of those three. Would be nice if each device had its own ID number instead of being tied to the iTunes username. Unless someone else has a fix for this, that's the problem I'm having.

Just setup imessage to sync to a different itunes account. You can setup a new itunes account to only sync to the could, and work with imessage. You still will be able to use the joint itunes account for purchases, and things of that nature. I had to do this with mine, and my wifes phone (for the cloud), it actually was pretty easy to setup.

[NoleScream]

Just setup imessage to sync to a different itunes account. You can setup a new itunes account to only sync to the could, and work with imessage. You still will be able to use the joint itunes account for purchases, and things of that nature. I had to do this with mine, and my wifes phone (for the cloud), it actually was pretty easy to setup.

Exactly. I did this for my wife and I for iCloud, we share the iTunes account for purchases, but I set up an separate iCloud account for her to sync Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, etc. with and used that same account as her iMessage account.

[Steve28]

I hope Apple fixes this: We have three devices in our home used by three different people but all tied to the same iTunes account. You can't use iMessage because it shows up as a message sent to yourself. So if my wife is messaging me from her iPad to my iPhone, my daughter can see those messages on her iPod Touch. Or any combination of those three. Would be nice if each device had its own ID number instead of being tied to the iTunes username. Unless someone else has a fix for this, that's the problem I'm having.

Go to settings, message, receive at: and put in a different email address there for each device. Also make sure to pick that email as the "caller id"

[splett]

If you block a number on your Verizon account from texting and calling you will it also block them from imessaging you?

[verwon]

If you block a number on your Verizon account from texting and calling you will it also block them from imessaging you?

No! It's not going through the phone servers, at all. Think of it as being more similar to an IM client. There's no way to block someone on iMessage.


Sent from my iOS ecosystem!

[candy84]

my one gripe is that if I am sending it to an international iphone use and the message is blue as i am typing...and then due to the lack of data, or spotty data on either ends the message goes green after it sends...ive had a few international text charges because this happened...

[Steve28]

my one gripe is that if I am sending it to an international iphone use and the message is blue as i am typing...and then due to the lack of data, or spotty data on either ends the message goes green after it sends...ive had a few international text charges because this happened...

Turn off Settings->Messages->Send as SMS