Enable MMS Messaging for iPhone

This article teaches you how to send messages with photo, video or audio content, or messages to multiple recipients using cellular data.

10 Second Summary

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Cellular.
3. Slide Cellular Data to the "On" position (if it isn't already).
4. Tap Settings in the upper-left corner to go back to the previous menu.
5. Tap Messages.
3. Slide Send as SMS to the "On" position.
4. Slide MMS Messaging to the "On" position.
5. Slide Group Messaging to the "On" position.

Steps

Enabling MMS

  1. Open Settings. It's a gray app that contains gears (⚙️) and is typically found on your home screen.
  2. Scroll down and tap Messages. It’s grouped in a section with other Apple apps, like Mail and Notes.
  3. Slide "Send as SMS" to the "On" position. It's near the bottom of the screen. This enables your iPhone to send messages using cellular data when iMessage is not available.
  4. Scroll down and slide "MMS Messaging" to the “On” position. It is located in the SMS/MMS section and will turn green. This allows your phone to send messages with pictures and videos using your data plan with your carrier.
    • MMS is different from iMessage, which can be sent using a Wi-Fi signal when senders and recipients have iMessage enabled. It doesn’t use cellular data when Wi-Fi is available.
  5. Slide "Group Messaging" to the “On” position. It’s just below "MMS Messaging" in the same section. This allows you to send Group Messages, which is a text sent to multiple people as an MMS message.
    • All Group Messaging recipients are able to see other recipients. Replies will go to the whole group rather than to you, individually.

Enabling Cellular Data

  1. Open Settings. It's a gray app that contains gears (⚙️) and is typically found on your home screen.
  2. Tap Cellular. It's near the top of the menu.
    • This menu will be labeled Mobile Data if your iPhone's language is set to U.K. English.
  3. Slide “Cellular Data” to the “On” position. It will turn green.
    • If you have a text package through your carrier that includes MMS, then you may not have to turn on cellular data to send MMS messages.

Troubleshooting MMS

  1. Check that your device and service is compatible. In order to use MMS, you will need an iPhone 3G or later, iOS 3.1 or later, a cellular data plan, and a domestic MMS plan.[1]
    • You can check your iOS version by tapping General in the main menu of Settings, then tapping About.
    • You must be enrolled in a data plan that supports MMS in order to use it.
  2. Turn your Wi-Fi off and try loading a webpage. This will allow you to check that your cellular data plan is working correctly. If this fails, you will need to contact your carrier to fix your cellular data connection.
  3. Turn iMessage off to test if you can send MMS messages. If you have iMessage enabled, your phone will try to send as an iMessage first. Problems can occur if one of your contacts has recently switched from iPhone to Android and didn't deactivate iMessage. Your iPhone may still attempt to send MMS messages to their iMessage account rather than their phone number with MMS.[2]
    • Open Settings.
    • Tap Messages.
    • Slide iMessage to Off.
    • Try sending or receiving an MMS message.
  4. Reset your Network Settings. This will reload your cellular connection settings, potentially fixing any errors in your MMS service.
    • Open Settings.
    • Tap General.
    • Tap Reset.
    • Tap Reset Network Settings. If you have a passcode, you will be asked to enter it.
  5. Contact your carrier. MMS is a carrier feature, which means that your carrier manages the servers that send MMS data from your iPhone to other phones and vice versa. If you're having persistent MMS problems, your carrier may be able to reset your MMS service on their end, fixing the connection issue.
  6. Restore your iPhone and set it up as new. This action can be used if everything else will not work. You can create a backup before you restore, which will let you retrieve all of your data.

Tips

  • SMS only needs cell signal to send/receive, but MMS requires cell data (e.g. 3G, 4G) on iPhones.
  • You can identify which protocol your iMessage is using by the color of the message. Blue means iMessage is being used, while green means the message is using SMS/MMS. Green messages with multimedia require cell data to be sent or received.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2755
  2. ↑ http://smartphonematters.com/understanding-the-difference-between-mms-and-imessage-on-your-iphone/
Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Enable_MMS_Messaging_for_iPhone&oldid=332556"