Text messaging from a computer can be handy in certain situations, and it’s really easy to do from both iPhone and Android. However, there are some specific steps you must take and your setup may not be compatible with computer text message.
Sending texts via your computer can be useful if your phone is distracting you too much, but you still want to be able to be contacted by text. Or maybe you can type on your computer much faster with a full-size keyboard compared to the small on-screen keyboard on your phone.
Another reason to text messages from your PC or Mac is if you’re just too lazy to grab your phone from across the room!
Whatever your situation, we will help you. Below are several ways to send and receive texts via computer on Android and iPhone. All methods are completely free and most of them can be completed in just a few minutes.
iMessage
The iMessage iOS text messaging service for iPhone can be used from a Mac by signing in to Messages on the Mac with the same Apple ID that you signed in with on iPhone. You can even go further and use iMessage on your Android or Windows computer by installing dedicated software.
Let’s take a look at how to write text from Mac first:
Step 1. On your iPhone, go to Settings> Messages and turn on iMessage by clicking the button next to it.
Step 2. Scroll down to Send & Receive and make sure the correct phone number or email address is selected. This is the method by which you will send and receive texts on your Mac.
Step 3. Open Messages on your Mac and sign in using the Apple ID and password you signed in to iPhone with.
You can now view iMessage texts as well as send and receive texts without using your iPhone. Messages will sync between your Mac and iPhone as long as you’re signed in with the same Apple ID.
With iMessage installed on your Mac, you can even send and receive texts from iPhone to Android via the AirMessage server software:
Step 1. Visit AirMessage and select the AirMessage server for macOS at the bottom of the page.
Step 2. Install the program on your Mac, then open it and select Change Password to set your own password for the iMessage server.
Click OK to save and close this window.
Step 3. Install the AirMessage companion app on Android.
Step 4. Enter your Mac’s IP address and the password you chose in step 2.
Step 5. View messages from iPhone to Android and send texts just like from iPhone!
Tip. If you can’t get this to work, see the AirMessage Installation Guide.
Using iMessage on a Windows computer is not as easy as it is on a Mac. You cannot access iMessage from a browser on Windows, and you cannot install the official Apple software on Windows to access your iOS texts.
Instead, the best way to send iPhone text messages through your Windows computer without paying for software is to install a free remote access program.
Install AnyDesk or Chrome Remote Desktop (or something similar that supports both platforms) on your Mac and Windows PC, then connect to your Mac to control your mouse and keyboard. This, of course, requires that you have a Mac configured with iMessage as described above.
Messages for the web
Messages is Google’s text messaging app for Android. It has a setting called “Messages for the Internet” with which you can enable the sending of texts through the phone through the computer. This works if both the phone and the computer are on the same network.
Because Messages on the Web runs in a web browser, it runs on any computer, be it Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Note. Even though Wi-Fi is used to send text messages between your phone and computer, they are still sent from your phone’s data plan. In other words, if you have a limited text messaging plan for your Android phone, this will count towards your use.
Step 1. Tap the vertical menu with three dots in the upper right corner of the application.
Step 2. Select “Messages for the Internet”.
Step 3. Click “QR Code Scanner”.
Step 4. Go to https://messages.google.com/web on your computer and scan the QR code you see. This works in browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari, but not Internet Explorer.
If you wish, you can select “Remember this computer” before scanning the code so that you do not have to do it again the next time you want to send text from your computer.
Other texting applications for computers
iMessage and Messages are the default messaging apps on iOS and Android, but there are many other messaging apps that can be used from both a mobile device and a computer. If everything is configured correctly, you have many options for sending text messages from your computer.
For example, if you want to use Facebook Messenger to send text messages on Android or iPhone, you can access all of the same messaging and text messaging features from https://www.messenger.com, the official Facebook site for Messenger.
All you need to log in with your Facebook account details. Text messages like this work no matter where your phone is (i.e. it doesn’t have to be on the same Wi-Fi network).
WhatsApp is also a very popular text messaging application that can be accessed from a computer via https://web.whatsapp.com It works like an Android Messages app where you need to scan a QR code to log into your account and ultimately send WhatsApp texts from your computer.
Just open the menu in WhatsApp and go to WhatsApp Web to open the camera needed to scan the code. For this to work, your phone must remain on the same network.
A few more examples where the text messaging feature of a messaging app can be easily used between phone and computer include Telegram Messenger, Slack, Skype, Textfree, and TextNow
There are also ways to send free texts from your computer via email and web services. These methods work differently than the ones we described above because they are not used to view your own messages on a computer, but to send arbitrary text to someone’s phone, even if you don’t have the phone itself. –
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