What do green and blue text messages mean on iPhone?

What do the green and blue colors mean on iPhone Messages?
(and how can this save me money when roaming abroad?)

When you message someone on an iPhone you’ll notice that sometimes the messages are blue and sometimes they are green. Why the different colors? Well, it’s all to do with something that Apple calls iMessage.

Green means the message was sent via SMS/Text across the mobile phone network
Blue means the message was sent via iMessage across the internet

When you write a message, the iPhone will first check to see if it can send the message using data (across the internet). If your phone is connected to the internet and the person you are messaging is also connected (and using iMessage) then the message will squirt across the internet. This is what makes iPhone to iPhone SMS free – it’s not really using SMS at all! If the message is green then it means you aren’t connected to the internet and the message will instead go by traditional SMS.

So how can this help you save money roaming? Well – when you’re roaming abroad, SMS can become pretty expensive. You might find yourself spending 50c per message in some countries. But, if you connect to local free WiFi or get yourself  something like a roaming data bundle and MiFi Device then the iPhone will do the rest and attempt to deliver your messages over the internet instead. And it uses next to no data.

You can even change the settings on your iPhone to ONLY use iMessage and not use SMS at all. Just go into Settings/messages and change “Send as SMS” to Off. If you combine this with the setting to turn off Cellular Data (and only use wifi) then you will protect yourself from most of the “easy” ways to run up large bills when abroad.

If you own an iPhone, at some point you’ve probably wondered, “why are my texts green, while others are blue?” There’s a simple reason your phone is sending green text messages, but you might be surprised by just how different they are from the blue ones.

Below, we break down the difference between blue vs. green text messages and answer your biggest messaging questions: Why are my texts green? What is SMS vs. iMessage? How do I turn on iMessages? For more iPhone hacks regarding iMessage, here’s how to hide messages on your iPhone and how to retrieve deleted text messages on an iPhone.

Why are my texts green?

A green text message on your iPhone isn’t a sign that your phone number was blocked, or that the text was not delivered. Instead, it means that the message was sent as a standard SMS message rather than an iMessage, which will appear as blue.

If your text was sent as an SMS message, you might be texting someone who does not have an Apple device, your iPhone might not be connected to the Internet, or the default iMessage setting on your iPhone might be turned off. Next, we’ll explain the difference between SMS vs. iMessages and how to turn your iMessages setting back on if it was disabled.

SMS, which stands for short messaging service, is a traditional form of text messaging that uses a cellular signal to send and receive messages. iMessage, on the other hand, is an Apple-specific messaging system that sends texts through Wi-Fi or data.

When using iMessages vs. SMS messages, you should weigh the pros and cons:

1. SMS messages are compatible with Androids, iPhones, and all other types of smartphones, while iMessages can only be sent and received by Apple devices like iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
2. iMessages are more secure than SMS messages. Unlike SMS messages, iMessages and other secure messaging apps offer end-to-end encryption to prevent user data from falling into the wrong hands. If you don’t have an iPhone but want to protect your messages, consider downloading a secure private messaging app like Signal or WhatsApp.
3. Because iMessages use Wi-Fi or data to send and receive messages, they don’t count against a limited texting plan.
4. In the Messages app, iMessages include features such as showing three pulsing dots when someone is typing, and sending “read receipts” when an iMessage has been opened.
5. iMessages don’t have a character limit. However, each SMS message can be no longer than 160 characters. If an SMS message is over the limit, your phone carrier will send it in multiple, 160-character parts.

How to enable iMessages on your iPhone

The default setting on the iPhone is set up to send iMessages to other Apple devices that are connected to the Internet. But if none of your iPhone’s text messages are blue and you’re wondering, “why are my texts green?”—it might be a sign that this setting is turned off. Without iMessages, which are automatically encrypted, you could be vulnerable to smishing and other scams.

Follow these steps to enable iMessages on your iPhone, and arm yourself against the top security threats of smartphones.

1. Go to Settings > Messages.
2. Turn the iMessage switch to the “on” position.

Sources:

• Apple: “Set up Messages on iPhone”

Originally Published: May 05, 2022

Find out why some of your message bubbles are blue or green.

iMessages are texts, photos or videos that you can send to another iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac over Wi-Fi or cellular data networks. These messages will always be encrypted and appear in blue text bubbles. To turn iMessage on or off, go to Settings > Messages.

If you're not using iMessage, you can use SMS/MMS. These messages are texts and photos that you can send to other mobile phones or another iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. SMS/MMS messages won't be encrypted and will appear in green text bubbles on your device.

As you must have noticed, some messages on iPhone have Green background, while others have a Blue background. If this sounds interesting, let us take a look at Why Some Messages on iPhone are Green, while others are Blue.

Why Are Some Messages Green On iPhone

When you send a Message from iPhone, the outgoing message can take two different routes, depending on whether the recipient of the Message is using an Apple Device or an Android Device.

If the recipient is using an Apple device, the Message is sent as an iMessage using Apple’s own infrastructure. If the recipient is not using an Apple Device, the message is sent as SMS Text Message using the Carriers network.

A major difference between the two is that iMessages are free and do not count against the messaging allowance of your phone plan, while SMS Text Messages are not free and will be counted against your Messaging Plan.

Hence, Apple has made it easy for iPhone users to distinguish between iMessages and SMS Text Messages by using Blue color for Free iMessages and Green color for Paid SMS Text Messages.

An easy way to remember this is to think of Green as being related to Money which is what your Carrier wants from you. iMessages are Blue and totally free.

In-fact, you can send as many Free iMessages as you want from iPhone to other Apple Device, located anywhere in the world.

How to Know You Are Sending iMessages on iPhone?

iPhone makes it really easy to check whether a particular Message that you are trying to sending is going as Free iMessage or paid SMS Text Message.

All that is required to know whether a Message is going as Free iMessage or Paid SMS Text Message is to keep an eye on the color of the Send button.

If you see a Green send button, it means that the Message will be going as a paid SMS Text Message, using the Cellular Network of your Carrier.

If you see a Blue send button, the message will be going through Apple’s servers as a Free iMessage.

Advantages of iMessage Over SMS Text Messages

Perhaps the biggest advantage of iMessage is that it is Free to use and there is no limit on the amount of Free iMessages that you can send from iPhone to other Apple Device users.

Another advantage of iMessage is that iMessages leave your device in an encrypted form and they remain encrypted even when they go through Apple’s servers. According to Apple, even they cannot see the contents of your iMessages.

In comparison, SMS Text Messages leave your device and travel through the Cellular Network of your Carrier in an un-encrypted form.

Most Cellular Service providers place restrictions on the type and size of file attachments (Maximum 2~3 MB), whereas Apple’s iMessage service supports large file attachments and makes it really easy to attach Photos and Files of up to 100 MB.

Another noticable difference between the two is that Carrier Supported SMS Text Messages are plain looking and outdated, while iMessages are feature rich and comparable to popular messaging systems like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.