If you’ve managed to get your devices upgraded to iOS5 in spite of the numerous difficulties at launch, one of the features you’re probably interested in trying out is the new iMessage system.
iMessage replaces traditional text messaging, allowing messages to be sent to iPhone’s and non 3G devices such as the iPod Touch or WiFi only iPad’s. The system will lookup a receiver and see if they are registered for iMessage and if so will send the message over the data network by preference (message is blue in colour), falling back to standard SMS if data is unavailable (message is the regular green in colour), or the recipient isn’t using iMessage.
Firstly, make sure you enable iMessage and configure it with the same set of information. On your iPhone this will be your mobile number (which will be pre-populated) and then any email addresses you expect people to find you by – your main Apple ID email obviously, and any additional ones.
Then, on your iPhone go to Settings – Messages – Click Receive At – CallerID – From here select your main Email Address not your phone number.
You should now find that messages you receive are available at either location. However I’ve yet to get an incoming SMS message (from a non iMessage user) to sync across to my iPad. Let me know in the comments below if anyone has managed this yet?
This post was written by Rob Gordon, an IT geek, gadget lover and blogger. Rob has been using the internets since 1994 when the only streaming video was that coffee pot in Cambridge (rip)….
Follow Rob on Twitter – @robgordon – about.me/robgordonuk
