Submitted by David Goodwin on 20th October, 2011
New in iOS 5 is iMessage, a messaging service that is a combination of MMS
and instant messaging.iMessage can be used to send messages to other iOS 5
users at no cost. Another benefit is that you can use multiple email
addresses with the service, meaning that you can give these to people
instead of your phone number.To configure iMessage open the Settings app and
double-tap on Messages. On the next page you can toggle the iMessage service
on or off, and enable or disable the sending of read receipts. You can also
choose to send messages via SMS when the iMessage service is not available.
Note that the Send as SMS option will use your cell provider's network to
send the message, so you may incur a cost if this is not part of your
plan.Below these options is a button labelled 'Receive At'. Double-tap on
this to set the email addresses that people can use to contact you via the
iMessage service. You should find that the email address used with your
Apple ID is already listed. Double-tap on 'Add Another Email' to add
additional addresses. When doing so, a verification email will be sent to
the new address. If you wish to remove an email address, double-tap on it
and then double-tap on 'Remove This Email'.On the 'Receive At' page you can
also set your Apple ID and select whether others will see your phone number
or email address when using the iMessage service. To do the latter,
double-tap on 'Caller ID' and make your selection.Once everything is
configured to your liking, you can start using the iMessage service.Sending
an iMessage is essentially the same as sending an MMS or SMS message in
earlier versions of iOS: open the Messages app and double-tap on the
'Compose' button. The only difference in iOS 5 is that the label for the
'Send' button will indicate whether you are sending an 'iMessage' or 'Text
Message'.You can send attachments (videos or pictures) by double-tapping on
the 'Attach Media' button that appears beside the body text field.
Double-tapping on this button will let you choose between taking a picture
or video, or selecting a picture or video from your Photo Library.
