You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Text Messaging with iPad mini

My iPad mini with cellular/WiFi will only send/receive text messages with Apple devises. My other iPads communicated with android devices. Is there something I need to adjust or is this the way it is.

iPad Mini 5, iPadOS 14

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 4:02 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 5:18 AM

cellular module only contains the data part not the voice part which sms rely on having been around prior to the data part


so ipads can only send imessages unless you have an iphone with the same appleID and has enabled it to do it for the ipad

read

How to get SMS text messages on your iPad | iMore

5 replies

Jun 15, 2021 7:15 AM in response to Colleen3158

Do you have an iPhone - or just an iPad?


An iPad, whether a Cellular model or not, is not capable of directly accessing Cellular Voice or SMS/MMS Messaging features. An iPad with either WiFi or Cellular connectivity alone can only access IP-data services.


However, If paired with an iPhone, the capabilities of iPad significantly broaden to include access to Cellular Voice and Messaging services of the associated iPhone - relayed to the iPad over WiFi using Apple’s continuity features.


More information about Continuity and the relevant Cellular services can be found here:


Continuity

Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Watch – Apple Support


SMS/MMS Messaging

How to forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your iPad, iPod touch or Mac - Apple Support


WiFi Calling

Make a call with Wi-Fi Calling – Apple Support



If you have an iPhone - and both iPad and iPhone are signed-in to iCloud with the same AppleID, to send SMS/MMS messages from your iPad you must explicitly enable Text Message Forwarding for your [new] iPad on your iPhone...


On your iPhone:

Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding - set to ON - and explicitly enable your iPad from the list of devices.


Also ensure that Messages in iCloud is enabled on both your iPhone and iPad:

Settings > [Your Name / AppleID] > Messages - set to ON


Text Messaging with iPad mini

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.