How to Enable Apple’s SMS Relay on your Mac or iPad

| How-To

When Apple announced iOS 8 at WWDC one feature was met with great applause: SMS Relay. This allows users to send and receive Text Messages (i.e. the "green bubble" messages) on our Macs the same way we've always been able to send and receive iMessages. SMS Relay is made possible by using your iPhone as the conduit between your Mac and the SMS network. Pretty nifty and, for some, quite handy.

When iOS 8 was released and the feature wasn't there, we all waited for Yosemite. When Yosemite came out we realized we needed to wait for iOS 8.1. Now that you have those two installed (you must for this to work), there are just a few more steps to follow, but they are pretty simple:

  1. First, make sure you're signed into iMessage on your non-iPhone device. That could be your Yosemite-running Mac (on which you'd find this setting in the Messages.app > Preferences > Accounts); or on your iPad in Settings > Messages > iMessage.
  2. Jump over to your iPhone and confirm you're signed into iMessage and iCloud with the same account here, too.
  3. Still on your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding.
     

    Enable "Text Message Forwarding" and your iPhone will relay SMS to/from your Mac or iPad

  4. Flip the switch to enable it on one device at a time. Then look at that device – you'll see a confirmation number that you'll have to enter on your iPhone. This ensures you've got physical access to both devices at the time you're setting it up.
     

    Confirm the link by typing the code and you're finished!

Once you've done this, you're good to go. Happy texting (and maybe try to encourage your Android-using friends to stop using SMS and just get an iPhone already. You know they want to!).

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Comments

wab95

Thanks, Dave. I hadn’t realised that I needed to authorise each device.

I’m not sure how this system differs from the previous arrangement since iOS7 and Mavericks, but I’ve been obtaining my SMS and FaceTime threads on every device. Discussions I’ve started on my iPhone showed up on my Mac and vice versa. I’m a little surprised that this is now being (somewhat) touted as a new feature, and am unclear how it, practically speaking, differs from what came before, at least from a user’s perspective.

Dave Hamilton

@wab95 — This has been possible with iMessages (i.e. the “blue bubble” messages) but until today (or, well, yesterday) was not possible with SMS messages (“green bubble”), hence the term “SMS Relay.”

wab95

Ahh, should have guessed by the title. Pays to be observant (why you get paid the big bucks).

Many thanks!

ctopher

I loved your last line! I’m the only one I know without an unlimited texting plan. My unlimited texting plan is Google Voice!

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