The iPhone is capable of sending two types of text messages.
Standard text messages have a green bubble, whereas iMessages have a blue bubble.
An iMessage is usually sent to someone who has an Apple iPhone, whereas text messages (or SMS messages) are usually sent to someone who has a different sort of device.
If you notice “sent as text message” next to a text message on your iPhone, it means the message was sent to a non-Apple device, the iMessage service is unavailable, your Internet connection is poor, or the recipient does not have iMessage enabled.
The instruction that follows goes into additional detail on this. You can also watch this YouTube video regarding iMessage sent as text message iPhone issues.
How to Turn Off the iPhone’s Sent as SMS Setting
Follow these steps to prevent your iPhone from sending iMessages as text messages.
Step 1: Open the “Settings” program.
Step 2: Go to the “Messages” area.
Step 3: Tap the button to the right of “Send as SMS” to turn it off.
There will be no green coloring around the button if this option is disabled. I’ve turned it off in the image above.
If you want to understand more about iMessages transmitted as text messages, this article can help.
The preceding deactivating sent as text message methods were performed on an iPhone 14 running iOS 16.6. These processes are also compatible with other iPhone models running iOS 13 and most other recent iOS versions.
The iMessage function on your iPhone provides various additional communication options not available with normal SMS text messaging. This includes Apple Pay, animojis, and a number of other exciting features available in the Messages app.
If you receive that warning on a message when iMessage was unable to deliver the text on a regular basis and wishes to try it as a standard SMS instead, you may be wondering what that implies.
If you have sent an iMessage, the color surrounding the message will change to blue. Traditional SMS text messages are surrounded by green coloring.
Even if you and your recipient have both enabled iMessage on your Apple devices, a message may be sent as an SMS. This may occur if iMessage is unavailable or the sender’s network is down.
Indeed, it is common for individuals to ask “what does sent as a text message mean” when they observe an unexpected green message bubble in a conversation while all of the previous messages were blue.
In addition, if the message was supposed to be delivered as an iMessage but was unable to do so, a little suggestion will show under the green message bubble suggesting that it was instead sent as an SMS.
This switch isn’t a problem in most cases, but you might prefer that you only send intended iMessages as iMessages and that the iPhone doesn’t revert to SMS mode.
The above processes will prevent your iPhone from sending an iMessage as a text message. It should be noted that this may result in the message never being sent.
If you’re wondering whether “sent as text message – did it go through?” You can check our list of related questions below to see if you can find the answer.
Answers to Questions
Is it possible to get blocked if you send an iMessage as a text message?
No, not all of the time. An iMessage sent as a text message, as previously noted, usually signals a network problem. If your iMessage does not have a “Delivered” message beneath it, but previous messages in the discussion did, you may have been blocked.
Why does my iPhone SMS show “sent as text message?”
Any communication transmitted to a device that is not an Apple device will be received as a text message. The iMessaging service is only available on Apple devices. If the iMessage could not be delivered because it could not be transmitted or the receiver does not have iMessage enabled, your iPhone will send it as a text message.
How do I enable or deactivate iMessage?
You may enable or disable iMessage by going to Settings > Messages and tapping the button next to iMessage at the top of the screen.
What does it mean to be “sent as a text message”?
While you’re probably used to seeing blue bubbles on texts you send to other iPhone users, you’ll notice that the bubble will occasionally turn green. In an iMessage chat, there will most likely be a line underneath a green bubble indicating that it was delivered as a text message.
The word “sent as text message” signifies that for whatever reason, your iPhone was unable to transfer the message as an iMessage.
Did they get it if it said “sent as text message”?
Yes, this usually means that the message was received by the intended recipient. If the initial iMessage failed and the device successfully delivered the alternate text message, your iPhone should display that notification.
However, I have had personal encounters when the message was not received by the intended recipient. It usually happens when I have poor data access or when I get off an airplane and switch time zones. If the communication is critical and you haven’t received a response, you should send it again.
Why are my texts arriving as SMS?
If all of your texts are being sent as SMS, including those to contacts with Apple devices, the iMessage setting may be turned off. Examine this by going to Settings > Messages > and seeing if the iMessage option is enabled.
If this occurs even with the iMessage setting enabled and you’re still wondering “why are my iMessages sending as texts,” it’s a little more difficult to troubleshoot.
If you recently switched iPhones, you may need to go back to the former device and turn off iMessage. It’s also possible that the iMessage service is down or that your Internet connection is bad.
Why are my iMessages being forwarded to only one person as text messages?
If communications are sent via text, the recipient is very certainly using a non-Apple device, such as an Android.
If you know they have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, they may not be using iMessage.
It’s a hardware issue if they have iMessage enabled and you can send iMessages to other people. They can try restarting their iPhone, turning off and on iMessage, and checking that their phone number has a blue check mark next to it in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive.
On an iPhone, how do you recognize an SMS message?
When iPhone users send SMS (short messaging service) messages via the Message app, the message bubble turns green. It will also say sent as text message beneath the message.
As previously said, this could happen for a number of reasons –
- The addressee is the owner of an Android smartphone.
- It is possible that the iMessage recipient may not have a stable Internet connection.
- The iMessage service may have been disabled by an iPhone user.
If nothing appears to be wrong, but you still get a green text bubble, your mobile signal strength may be weak. Check your Internet connection and cellular service to confirm they are in good working order and that you haven’t turned off cellular data or exceeded your monthly data allowance.
What does a blue iMessage look like on an iPhone?
When it goes through, you will not receive an iMessage delivery notification or anything else, but successful iMessages will show blue rather than green.
Please keep in mind that only the message you submit will be in blue. Other iMessage recipient messages will remain gray.
There is no such thing as an iMessage app. If the device has the iMessage option activated, any message sent to other Apple users or another iOS device will display the blue bubble.
Can I send all of my iPhone communications as text messages?
Yes, you may turn off the iMessage service on your iPhone totally. You can do so by following the procedures outlined below.
- Open the Settings program.
- Navigate to Messages.
- Disable the iMessage option.
What settings do I need if I just want my iPhone to send SMS texts while the iMessage service is down?
If you want to send iMessages whenever possible while also having your iPhone send SMS as a backup, you must perform the following:
- Open the Settings program.
- Navigate to Messages.
- Enable the iMessage feature.
- Click the Send as SMS button.
Despite the fact that most cellular plans allow you to send unlimited SMS messages, any MMS (multimedia messaging service) messages you send, such as photographs or videos, will eat data from your data plan if you are connected to a cellular network.
The measures you must take to prevent your iPhone from using the SMS fallback while attempting to send an iMessage are outlined in the following part of this article.
Video About Sent as Text Message on iPhone
Summary – How to Stop iPhone Text Messages From Being Sent As Notifications
- Go to the Settings menu.
- Go to Messages.
- Turn off Send as SMS.
More information about the iPhone iMessage transmitted as text message signal that you may observe in a message thread on your device is provided below.
How to Change Your iPhone Messages from iMessages to Text Messages Manually
To prevent your iPhone from sending iMessages as text messages while the iMessage service is unavailable, go to Settings > Messages and off the Send as SMS option.
When an iMessage cannot be sent because the iMessage service is down or unavailable, you can tap and hold the message and select Send as Text Message.
To summarize, perform these steps to send an iMessage as a text message:
- Go to Settings.
- Navigate to Messages.
- Disable Send as SMS.
- Tap and hold a non-sending iMessage.
- From the drop-down box, select Send as Text Message.
This article contains further information about sending iMessages and text messages on an iPhone.
More Information on iMessage Text Message Meaning
Another setting on the Messages menu that you may want to change is “read receipts.”
If you enable the option to send read receipts, when others send you text messages, they will see read or delivered alerts beneath the message, letting them know when you receive text messages and when you look at them.
This option may be discovered by navigating to Settings > Messages > and unchecking the Send Read Receipts checkbox.
This settings menu also has an SMS/MMS section where you may adjust a variety of text messaging parameters.
If you disable MMS messaging, for example, you won’t be able to send photos or videos to people who don’t use iMessage.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.