Will someone help my with my daughter's iphone 4 and text messages?

March 24, 2018, 03:14 PM

BennerP220

We gave her an iphone 4. It has no cell service, just our home wifi.

She has some friends changing schools and wants to be able to text them to keep in touch. Anyone know how to make this work?

Seem like my oldest daughter could do this with her old one before we got her an iphone.

Any help is appreciated!

March 24, 2018, 03:18 PM

Angus the Kid

The iPhone 4 has to be on wifi and her friends need to also have iPhones and use iMessage, not SMS.

March 24, 2018, 03:20 PM

stoic-one

As long as you have wifi you can use FB messenger.

March 24, 2018, 03:41 PM

JWF

Your phone should have a feature called “text message forwarding”, by pairing her phone to yours she can send text or SMS messages to her non-IPhone friends. At least it works with my iPad to iPhone pairing. Just sign her in to your iMessage account.

March 24, 2018, 03:56 PM

Aeteocles

Snapchat.

March 24, 2018, 04:25 PM

Rey HRH

quote:
Originally posted by stoic-one:
As long as you have wifi you can use FB messenger.

This or Viber or google voice.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

March 24, 2018, 04:27 PM

gearhounds

Bottom line is a chat app of some kind; there are a large number of them available. It will require that her network of friends download the same app.

March 24, 2018, 04:38 PM

ShouldBFishin

I've been using WhatsApp to communicate with my daughter while she's studying abroad. It uses a WiFi connection. With it we can text, talk and video between us. Her friends would need to install the app too.

It's been great for us.

quote:
Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Snapchat.

I know it's popular, but I'd recommend against Snapchat. The premise behind it is that messages / pictures are temporary (I can assure you that they are NOT). Sometimes kids don't fully comprehend the ramifications of certain actions...

March 24, 2018, 05:19 PM

IntrepidTraveler

quote:
Originally posted by gearhounds:
Bottom line is a chat app of some kind; there are a large number of them available. It will require that her network of friends download the same app.

Google Voice, mentioned by RayHRH, wouldn't require her friends to have a separate app. It gives her another phone number that they can text to. She WILL need to have the GV app on her phone though.

_{Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.
- Dave Barry

"Never go through life saying 'I should have'..." - quote from the 9/11 Boatlift Story (thanks, sdy for posting it)}

March 24, 2018, 09:31 PM

BennerP220

Thanks, everyone!

March 24, 2018, 09:40 PM

SigSauerP226

quote:
Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
I've been using WhatsApp to communicate with my daughter while she's studying abroad. It uses a WiFi connection. With it we can text, talk and video between us. Her friends would need to install the app too.

It's been great for us...

WhatsApp is what came to my mind. Believe it creates a number for you and allows calls and texts without a plan, just need wifi. Admittedly, I've never used it, just heard of it and that it's supposed to be good.

March 24, 2018, 10:59 PM

911Boss

quote:
Originally posted by JWF:
Your phone should have a feature called “text message forwarding”, by pairing her phone to yours she can send text or SMS messages to her non-IPhone friends. At least it works with my iPad to iPhone pairing. Just sign her in to your iMessage account.

But understand, you will also receive any texts meant for her and she will see any texts you send or are sent for you...

March 24, 2018, 11:05 PM

RHINOWSO

quote:
Originally posted by 911Boss:
quote:
Originally posted by JWF:
Your phone should have a feature called “text message forwarding”, by pairing her phone to yours she can send text or SMS messages to her non-IPhone friends. At least it works with my iPad to iPhone pairing. Just sign her in to your iMessage account.

But understand, you will also receive any texts meant for her and she will see any texts you send or are sent for you...

Yeah, my friend crossed the streams like that with his kid...

It took us awhile to figure out why he often never responded to imessages, cuz his son would see them first sometimes and then delete them as unwanted.

Solution to that is to make a childs itunes account which the parent controls. I text my 11 year olds on their ipad minis, but they can't text anyone else (in addition to being locked down on many, many fronts).

March 24, 2018, 11:20 PM

Vanwall

Textfree app?

March 30, 2018, 06:55 PM

muddle_mann

quote:
Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
The iPhone 4 has to be on wifi and her friends need to also have iPhones and use iMessage, not SMS.

This is correct. iMessage uses email protocol not SMS (simple message system) protocol. Can also Facetime and FB messenger etc. I suppose you could get her a data only plan to send sms off wifi...?

March 30, 2018, 07:00 PM

Nismo

They can download the free chat app "kik". All you need is an internet connection and that all users have the Kik app. There is also an app called Wechat that works the same way.