This wikiHow teaches you how to send SMS with photo, video, or audio content when iMessages isn't working.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Enabling MMS
Step 1. Open the iPhone settings menu
The settings menu is marked with a gray gear icon that appears on the device's homescreen.
Step 2. Touch Messages
Swipe to the center of the page to find the option.
Step 3. Slide the "MMS Messaging" switch to the on position
The button is in the “SMS/MMS” section and will turn green when active. After that, your phone can send messages containing pictures and videos using your cellular carrier's data plan.
MMS differs from iMessages in that they can be sent over a Wi-Fi signal when all the users involved have iMessage enabled. When a signal or Wi-Fi connection is available, messages are not sent via data packets
Step 4. Slide the "Group Messaging" switch to the on position
The button is still in the same section. This way, you can send group messages (text messages sent to multiple recipients as MMS messages).
This step is optional and allows the recipient to see other recipients you have sent the message to. In addition, the replies or responses you get will also be accepted by all group members, not just you
Part 2 of 3: Activating Cellular Data Plan
Step 1. Open the iPhone settings menu
The settings menu is marked with a gray gear icon displayed on the homescreen.
Step 2. Select Cellular Data
If the device is set in British dialect English, the option will be labeled “Mobile Data”.
Step 3. Slide the “Cellular Data” switch to the active position
After sliding, the color of the button will change to green.
If you subscribe to a short message plan that includes an MMS plan, you don't need to activate a data plan to send MMS messages
Part 3 of 3: Troubleshooting MMS-Related Problems
Step 1. Check if your device and the service you are using are compatible
To use MSS, you need an iPhone 3G or later, iOS 3.1 or later, a cellular data plan, and a local MMS plan.
- You can check the iOS version of your device by touching the “General” option in the main settings menu. After that, select “About”.
- To send MMS messages, you need to subscribe to a data plan that also supports MMS.
Step 2. Turn off Wi-Fi and try loading a web page
This way, you can check if your device's mobile data plan is working properly. If this fails, you will need to contact your cellular service provider to fix the cellular data connection.
Step 3. Turn off iMessage to check if MMS messages can be sent
If you have iMessage turned on, your phone may send messages as an iMessage message first. Problems can arise if one of the contacts that is used as the recipient of the message switches to using an Android device from an iPhone and has not disabled iMessage. As a result, your iPhone will still try to send MMS messages to the recipient's iMessage account instead of sending them to their mobile number as an MMS message.
- Open the "Settings" menu.
- Select "Messages".
- Slide the “iMessage” switch to the off position.
- Try sending or receiving an MMS message.
Step 4. Reset device network settings
This setting will reload the mobile network settings so that it can fix errors on the MMS service.
- Open the "Settings" menu.
- Select "General".
- Select "Reset".
- Select "Reset Network Settings". If you set a passcode, you will be asked to enter it.
Step 5. Contact your cellular service provider
MMS is a feature of cellular services. This means, the cellular service provider manages the servers that send MMS data from your iPhone to other phones, and vice versa. If you are still having problems using MMS, your mobile service provider can reset MMS service for you and fix any network problems.
Step 6. Restore your iPhone and set it to initial settings
This step can be followed if all the methods described previously did not work to fix the existing MMS problem. Before restoring, you can create a backup file so that you can get your device data back later.
Read the guide at this link for more information on how to restore or restore the original iPhone settings
Tips
- SMS only requires a cellular signal to send/receive messages, while MMS requires cellular data (eg 3G, 4G) on the iPhone.
- You can identify the protocol that iMessage uses by looking at the color of the message. Blue color indicates iMessage is in use, while green indicates SMS/MMS is in use. Green messages containing multimedia content require mobile data to be sent/received.
