The iMessage service is Apple’s native messaging application, which comes by default on our devices. The cupertino boys texting app, iMessage allows us to send free text messages between the company’s iOS and MacOS devices, as long as they have Internet access. But how do we know if iMessage is free or paid?
With iMessage you can send text messagesphotos, audio notes, to any Apple device that has the service, for free.
But this service is not free when the message is sent to another device outside the platform, a platform like Android.
For this reason, we must be careful when we send a text message through iMessage, if we do not want to get a surprise on the bill.
We are going to try to solve the doubts of how do we know when iMessage is free or paid? May I know before I send it? can i know later? Can I only send the messages when they are free? Go for it!
Is iMessage really free?
iMessages are always free and when sent from one iOS device to another iOS device with a registered phone number or iCloud email.
When we buy a new iPhone and begin to configure it, we also have to configure this service together with FaceTime, the configuration according to the operator we have, if it can cost us, but that is another matter.
The application iMessage is a free servicebut our mobile phone provider will charge us for the use of the data used by the service, according to the data rate that we have contracted, or we can also connect through Wifi.
All iMessage free
Communications between iOS devices through iMessage can be text messages, photos, audio notes, or files, and will always be completely free.
Also you can communicate between iOS and/or Mac devices completely free of charge, to send files, images and texts through iMessage.
As long as it is between Apple devices, there will be no charge on your mobile rate for sending MMS or SMS, whether they are photos, GIFs or attachments.
Is it free to use iMessage internationally?
It is also free. As long as both devices are signed in to iCloud and using iMessage on iOS or Mac.
With iMessage you can send any message internationally for freesimply the device or the phone number must be registered in iCloud, that’s it.
However, as before, our mobile phone provider may charge us for this connection differently, somewhat more expensive, as it is an international connection.
To do this, check with your provider the data roaming, the roaming service that may or may not be included. Depending on the country, the iMessage service may be restricted, regardless of your data rate. Read on to resolve the question of whether iMessage is free or paid.
What is the difference between iMessage and the conventional text message?
iMessage is the messaging service created by Apple. for us to communicate between iOS devices and Mac. Text messages, meanwhile, use the provider’s system to send the message, while iMessage uses Apple’s server to communicate.
The iMessage service uses the data via the Internet or our data rate to send the message, on the contrary, the traditional SMS, the short message service, is available through the mobile service provider.
The SMS that have been used for so many yearsand in fact they were a big novelty years ago, use the same bandwidth allocated for voice as for sending text messages.
Now comes the million dollar question, can I know if an iMessage is free before I send it? Let’s figure it out.
How to know if your iMessage is free or paid before sending it?
It must be recognized that the guys from Cupertino made it easy to differentiate if what we are going to send is an iMessage or a traditional text message.
We can immediately recognize the type of message we are going to send, check if it is an iPhone or an Apple device, or not.
To check it, follow these steps:
- Let’s go to the application Messages from the iPhone and open it.
- Now in the upper right part, we have an icon with a pencil, click to write a new message.
- In the box For:, we can put a telephone number or if we click on the button +we can search for a name from our contact list.
- iOS will catalogthe number of contacts based on the name you entered.
- Now we will check if the message is free or not. iMessage is FREE if the number is dialed in color blue.
- iMessage IS NOT FREE if the number or contact is dialed in green color.
In addition, we can also check if it is free or not, while we are writing, because before sending, the little arrow that appears to the right of the message will turn blue if the message is free, that is, it is an iMessage, or it will be green, when it is paid, when it is a traditional message.
How to know if iMessage is free after sending it?
If you have already sent the messages, and you have not deleted them, you can also check later if the messages sent are paid or not.
If now that you are reading this article you want to check it and find out for sure, follow these steps.
- Let’s go back to the Messages app of our iPhone.
- All the people with whom we have spoken will appear. We choose that conversation that we want to check.
- The messages have been free if we see a colored background blue in the messages that we have sent.
- The messages No have been free if you have a background green in the text messages that we have sent.
But if all you’ve sent in that conversation has been images and there’s no text at all, we can check that too.
To do this we will write a new text, as if we were going to send a new message, and check the color of the arrow that appears to the right of the message as we have explained before.
According to the color, we know if they have been free or not. The blue color is free, and the green color indicates that it has been paid for.
Can we block SMS on our iPhone?
Well we can actually do it. With iMessage you can send a free message almost anywhere in the world, which is why some people want to block the sending of SMS so as not to have an extra cost on their mobile phone bill and not get any strange surprises at the end of the month.
For this reason, the Californian company offers us the possibility of blocking SMS and that we can only send iMessages from our device. Making sure we don’t have surprises at the end of the month in our rate for this service.
Follow these steps, if you want to.
- Let’s go to the application Settings on our iPhone.
- We go down to where it says Mmessages and we open it.
- We scroll down and look for the legend Send as SMS.
- We can toggleSend as SMS” to activate it
If we have disabled it, we will be limited to sending only iMessages, and we will not be able to send messages to any other user outside of Apple.
This drastic option will prevent us from any additional or accidental charges for uncontrolled or unknowing SMS shipments.
If you are not worried about the SMS charge in your mobile rate, you can activate Send as SMS. In fact, for several years, many operators have included sending SMS free of charge and without limits.
So you should check the conditions of your mobile rate, because perhaps with a bit of luck, you will have it included in your mobile plan.
Other courier services
Also, also there are other free messaging servicesby all known, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, that we can use them to send free messages to any device in almost any part of the world.
Some of these services do not offer the guarantees offered by the Apple messaging serviceiMessage, as far as user privacy is concerned.
When we use these types of applications, we must do so carefully, being aware that our data and part of our privacy is being shared. Therefore we should be very careful, and be scrupulous with the material we share through these third-party applications.
The indications given in this article, about whether iMessage is free or paid, are similar for any device from the guys from Cupertino. There are no differences, if you send the message from an iPad, an iPhone or a Mac device, the conditions are the same. On these devices you can also check if the messages you have sent or are going to send are free or not.
As always I hope you liked the article, and we have cleared your doubts. Let us know in the comments if you use iMessage or if you use other services on a daily basis.
