Is it just a text message or is it more?
So, what you learn in this article applies generally to other cellphones and smartphones, too.
What is SMS?
Lifewire / Miguel Co
SMS stands for Short Message Service,whichis the formal name for the technology used for text messaging.
It’s a way to send short messages from one phone to another.
These messages are usually sent over a cellular data web connection.
(That’s not always true, though.
For instance, iMessages can be sent over Wi-Fi.
More on that below.)
Standard SMSes are limited to 160 characters per message, including spaces.
Every iPhone model can send SMS text messages.
Early models of the iPhone used a built-in app called Text.
That app was replaced by Messages, which is still used today.
The original Text app could only send standard text SMSes.
That meant that it could not send images, video, or audio.
The first-generation iPhone was criticized for lacking multimedia messaging because other phones already had that feature.
Later iPhone models with different versions of the operating system gained the ability to send multimedia messages.
Whilethe Messages applets users send text and multimedia messages, it also includes a feature called iMessage.
In the Messages app, iMessages are the blue word balloons.
Phone companies generally now offer unlimited text messages.
Technically, there actually is one way to use iMessage on Android, if you have the right software.
Learn all about it iniMessage For Android: How to Get It And Use It.
What is MMS?
The service is based on SMS, but adds those features.
Whether the recipient’s phone can play those files depends on that phone’s software and features.
Files sent via MMS count against both the sender’s and the recipient’smonthly data limitsin their phone service plans.
MMS for the iPhone was announced in June 2009 as part of iOS 3.
It debuted in the United States on Sept. 25, 2009.
MMS had been available on the iPhone in other countries for months before that.
Using MMS
There are many ways to send an MMS on the iPhone:
