How To: Use iMessage

If you recently purchased your new iPhone or you updated to the latest operating software version (iOS 5) then you have iMessage. iMessage is a direct assault on the way carriers such as Verizon used to charge for texting. Back in the day, one had to either buy an unlimited texting plan or some other plan that allowed them to text so many times per month. But now with iMessage, this ideology is on the way out because texting with iMessage is completely separate from what you pay your carrier for every month.

iMessage uses your internet connection to send/receive texts from other iPhone users with added features with absolutely no limits! Learn everything there is to know about iMessage right here.

First off, let’s make sure you have the latest operating software iOS 5. If you bought your iphone in the past 6 months then you don’t have to worry about this. But go to your Settings app, and go to General. Then go to About. Scroll down a little until you see “Version” and you will see what iOS version you have installed.

If you have anything 5.0.0 or higher then you are good to go! If you have a version that is lower than 5.0.0 then you need to connect your iPhone to iTunes and update your iPhone.

Now, let’s try using iMessage. Open up your Messaging app (the icon in the image on the top of this post). Let’s compose a new text message by selecting the button on the top right corner that has a box and a pen inside of it.

Next, begin typing somebody’s name in the “To:” field. You’ll see something like this:

You will notice if the person you are trying to find has an iPhone or not when they have a blue bubble indicating that they too have iMessage. You may select any item that displays on this list to send a text message, but if they have iMessage, it will automatically switch over to iMessage instead of text messaging. Go ahead and select a name from the list of contacts you see. The next screen will look something like this:

If they have iMessage (if they are also using an iPhone) then the above image will revert to this:

Notice the green turns to blue and the area where you type now says “iMessage”. This indicates that you are utilizing iMessage instead of using text messages via your carrier’s texting plan. Now let’s send an iMessage. Go ahead and type in a message and hit Send. You’ll notice in seconds that, unlike standard texting, you have the ability to see when the message is delivered! And at what time it was delivered!

But that is not all! One of the biggest features iMessage has is the ability to see when the message is READ!

Of course, this is a privacy concern so users will have to turn this feature on in their settings app and I will show you how.

First, go into your Settings app and scroll down until you can select Messages.

Now you will see where you can toggle iMessage settings.

You can stop your iPhone from automatically switching to iMessaging when possible by switching the top setting to OFF. Also, you can allow others to see when you read their messages by turning the 2nd option to ON. But there are even more settings.

These settings are either self-explanatory or not worth reviewing at this time, but the top setting is important because this should be switched to ON in case your iPhone is out of reach of the interent where in that situation your iPhone will send your message as a standard text message rather than an iMessage. Otherwise, if this setting is switched to OFF your message will not reach your recipient until you are back in the range of internet.

That’s it! Now go out there and iMessage as much as you want!