[okanagan.mike]

I bought my daughter-in-law an iPhone for her birthday. She hasn't had one before. I edited her contact information to show she is using an iPhone for text messages, but they are still being sent as SMS. How do I fix it so we can use iMessage and FaceTime?

EDIT: She says she is getting blue bubbles when she receives texts from me, but on my end they are still green when I send them.

Thanks!

Mike

[HankAZ]

I bought my daughter-in-law an iPhone for her birthday. She hasn't had one before. I edited her contact information to show she is using an iPhone for text messages, but they are still being sent as SMS. How do I fix it so we can use iMessage and FaceTime?

Thanks!

Mike

Starting with the obvious:

Log into Messages and FaceTime? Make sure in Settings > Messages that iMessage is [ON].

And again, stating the obvious, but the user needs to have iMessage enabled. There is nothing you can do from your device to force that. Both have to have iMessage enabled, and then it should work.

[qbnkelt]

In Settings, look for Messages. Is iMessage enabled?
Attachment 66865

[okanagan.mike]

Quick replies!

I use iMessage all the time with my wife, son, and daughter. My DIL says she gets messages in blue so they are coming to her as iMessages, but on my end they are showing up in green. She had a BlackBerry phone before I bought her the iPhone. I have all the things that HankAZ and qbnkelt say to look for correctly turned on.

M

[okanagan.mike]

I have deleted her contact and rebuilt it from scratch. When I try a new iMessage, even when I first type her name, it shows up as green, and the message I compose is in a green bubble.

I am stumped!

M

[Rolandh]

Quick replies!

I use iMessage all the time with my wife, son, and daughter. My DIL says she gets messages in blue so they are coming to her as iMessages, but on my end they are showing up in green. She had a BlackBerry phone before I bought her the iPhone. I have all the things that HankAZ and qbnkelt say to look for correctly turned on.

M

Sometimes wierd things happen with Messaging (SMS/iMessage) I've had to re-send messages as SMS when my wife hasn't had data/Wi-Fi turned on & it's shown a blue bubble even though it's been re-sent as an SMS.

Roland

[qbnkelt]

That is bizarre.
I searched this for you.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2755



Sent from my SEXY GORGEOUS AWESOME GOLD 128G iPhone 6 ️️️

[okanagan.mike]

Thanks for that. I will check it out when I get some time later today. It truly is bizarre.

M

[FaisDogg]

The iMessages show up in blue, and SMS show up green on mine


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

[sau124]

Lets try this. Delete the message chain on both the iPhones and since she is receiving iMessages ask her to compose a message to you and see if that is blue or green; if it is blue when she sends it, you should be able to send her messages in blue back.

Let us know if this works

[BreakingKayfabe]

What she sends is blue and what you send is in green. Each way the bubbles for the received are gray. I have a feeling her phone # isn't registered and her e-mail is sending the iMessages.

In the screen that qbnkelt posted, have her check the send & receive and make sure the phone # isn't greyed out.

Also, in that screen of send & receive, at the top, just have her log out and back in to her Apple ID for good measure.

[okanagan.mike]

No Joy! Although to be honest I am not 100% certain things were done properly on her end. She is four hours away and I can't see what she is doing. I may have to ask my son to help out when he gets home from work tonight. Still weird, though!

[okanagan.mike]

Thanks for the tips Heisenberg. I will get my Apple-savvy son to help out tonight and see if we can figure this out.

[okanagan.mike]

When I go to compose a message, all my iMessage contacts are listed in blue as I start typing the recipient name, but my DIL's name isn't. It is in grey.

[BreakingKayfabe]

When I go to compose a message, all my iMessage contacts are listed in blue as I start typing the recipient name, but my DIL's name isn't. It is in grey.

Her phone number isn't registered on iMessage yet. Have her go through the steps I described.

[warcraftWidow]

What she sends is blue and what you send is in green. Each way the bubbles for the received are gray. I have a feeling her phone # isn't registered and her e-mail is sending the iMessages.

In the screen that qbnkelt posted, have her check the send & receive and make sure the phone # isn't greyed out.

Also, in that screen of send & receive, at the top, just have her log out and back in to her Apple ID for good measure.

The is probably the right answer. She is ably using iMessages with her email not her phone number. What happens if you try to send her an iMessage but instead of selecting her phone number you select her email address. Does that show up blue?

[Scatabrain]

Lets try this. Delete the message chain on both the iPhones and since she is receiving iMessages ask her to compose a message to you and see if that is blue or green; if it is blue when she sends it, you should be able to send her messages in blue back.

Let us know if this works

This has worked for me with a friend.

[okanagan.mike]

So how do I get her to register her phone number if that is the issue?

[okanagan.mike]

I have a phone number for her and two email addresses. All of them send as SMS, not as iMessages. I tried to delete all message chains on both her phone and mine (assuming she followed my instructions properly), but that didn't work, either.

[warcraftWidow]

So how do I get her to register her phone number if that is the issue?

Settings, Messages, Send & Receive, then make sure the phone number is checked.
Attachment 66907

[qbnkelt]

Checking in to see if there is an update from the OP.


Sent from my SEXY GORGEOUS AWESOME GOLD 128G iPhone 6 ️️️

[Ledsteplin]

In the screen that qbnkelt posted, have her check the send & receive and make sure the phone # isn't greyed out..

Isn't the phone # supposed to be grayed out in "send and receive"? Mine is. Or did I misunderstand?


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

[okanagan.mike]

My understanding is that the phone # is greyed out on the iPhone when you check. My DIL doesn't have a phone number listed there.

The update is that I got to talk to her last night for a few brief minutes on Skype just before she had to put her daughter to bed. Apparently her phone says Waiting for Activation, so things are not quite like they were described to me. My son acknowledges that he doesn't get iMessages from her either, which is contrary to what was originally told to me. I have sent them a link to a page on how to fix the problem, but with a three year old of her own, and another younger one that she looks after, it may take a while for her to be able to find the time, especially when she is still able to SMS her contacts.

I will let folks know when this is resolved. I appreciate everyone's help!

Mike

[BreakingKayfabe]

Isn't the phone # supposed to be grayed out in "send and receive"? Mine is. Or did I misunderstand?


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

Yeah. It's supposed to be greyed out with the checkmark. I should have said that it shouldn't be greyed out without a checkmark.

My understanding is that the phone # is greyed out on the iPhone when you check. My DIL doesn't have a phone number listed there.

The update is that I got to talk to her last night for a few brief minutes on Skype just before she had to put her daughter to bed. Apparently her phone says Waiting for Activation, so things are not quite like they were described to me. My son acknowledges that he doesn't get iMessages from her either, which is contrary to what was originally told to me. I have sent them a link to a page on how to fix the problem, but with a three year old of her own, and another younger one that she looks after, it may take a while for her to be able to find the time, especially when she is still able to SMS her contacts.

I will let folks know when this is resolved. I appreciate everyone's help!

Mike

Since it's stuck on waiting for activation then what she needs to do is go into send & receive again, sign out of her Apple ID at the top again sign back in, and wait for the activation while not on WiFi. I've had that "waiting for activation" message before and for some reason getting on cellular data made that activate quicker.

[ajg23#IM]

Good ideas here. I helped someone with this and it took some time for iMessage to activate.

Also consider initiating a Messages conversation by typing in the other person's email address (associated with iMessage) rather than phone number.