Before I purchased my iPhone I had no desire to have text messaging on my cell phone. It was only after I finally purchased my iPhone that I got into text messaging.
Texting is a feature that has to be set up first with your phone service provider. If you have not set up a plan with your provider, you may be in a situation where you will be charged for both incoming and outgoing text messages. More than likely your phone company has a package they will offer you that can combine with other services. Shortly after I did choose to add unlimited texting to my phone service, I found it most helpful in my business and then in a wide variety of other situations.
Now, on to how to work with text messages on your iPhone.
For the visual demonstration, click on the arrow to see the video. If you wish to view it full screen, click on square icon on the bottom bar to the far right.
1 – To start, click on Message icon on your main screen. All your messages, until deleted, will appear in a single list, grouped by person or number.
2 – To SEND a message click on the pencil icon in the upper right corner on your screen.
3A – In the “To:” space start typing in the cell phone number to which you want to send a message OR tap the + button in blue on the right. The latter will bring up your Contacts listing.
3B – If you are keeping your Address Book/Contacts List current, either directly on your phone or synchronized with your computer, you can type in the name of the contact you want to reach. As your phone starts recognizing the letters, it will bring up a list of those that match what you have typed thus far.
You can click on the one you want to use and it will pop into that space. Make sure you select the cell number. You can add another number or name by simply starting to type once again, or you can click on the + sign in the blue circle. That will bring up your contacts and you can select from there.
Next, in the elongated oval space next to the camera (Text Message in grey), type your message. When finished tap Send, in the green button. Your message will then show up for you in green or blue.
4 – RECEIVING MESSAGES – When your phone receives a message, it will notify you on your home screen with a white number in a red circle in the upper right of the Messages icon.
Clicking on that brings you directly to the message. If you wish to reply, simply enter your message in the text field and hit Send.
DELETING MESSAGES – There are 3 ways you can delete messages
5A – In the full listing of Messages, tap Edit, top left. A column of red circles with white minus signs (horizontal lines) appear. Tap on the horizontal line in the circle of each message you wish to delete. Note the line turns vertical and a big, red delete button appears on the write. Tap to delete.
5B – In the individual Messages listings you can touch Edit on the top right, then individually click in the circle to the left of the selected message(s). Then at the bottom left hit the big red delete button., bottom left, or
5C – If you wish to delete all the messages listed with that one contact, you can simply tap on Clear All in the blue button at the top. Before the final “delete” a message will come at the bottom, in red, offering you the option to “Clear Conversation.
Lastly:
6 – When tapping on the same above-described Edit option, on the top right, you also have the choice of FORWARDING MESSAGES where you put a check mark on the left. In addition to the Delete in red there is the Forward option in blue on bottom right.
To your positive texting experiences.