I was talking to you yesterday about iMessage and I was telling you that I did not manage to use the new function from Apple. Well, in the meantime I regained possession of my old 3GS and in just a few minutes I discovered why I couldn't send messages to anyone. iMessage activates exactly like FaceTime, that is, we have to send a message to Apple's servers, an international message that costs 12 cents with most operators. After we send the message, the Apple servers register the terminal as active with iOS 5 installed and we can use iMessage. The installation process is done exactly as in the case of FaceTime activation and I think that with hacktivation there will be exactly the same problems.
To activate iMessage we must go to the Settings>Messages menu where we have the option to activate the service and as soon as you switch the button to On you will receive a message warning you that your phone will send an SMS to Apple for activation. Activation usually takes 1 minute or a little more, and if after about 5 minutes you don't have the active service, it would be good to reset your terminal and try the process again after restarting. Well, let's say you have the active service and you want to send messages. In the Messages menu there is a category called Receive At which basically tells the Apple servers where exactly you want to receive all the messages sent via iMessage. Enter that category and you will have listed there the phone number and email address where you can receive the messages sent via iMessage. The phone number cannot be changed, but we can add a new email address and delete the current one, the current address being the Apple ID you used to log in to iCloud. Well, let's say that the email address is correct and you want to receive messages using it. To choose whether you want to receive messages on your phone number or email address, access the Caller ID menu.
In the Caller ID menu you have listed the phone number and email address(es) that your friends can use to talk to you via iMessage. It is very important to check the method by which you can be contacted because if you choose the email address and tell a friend to contact you on iMessage using your phone number, iMessage will not work. If you check the email address there, you will receive the messages only if you are contacted by the email address. Well, let's say you choose your email address, tell your friend who has active iMessage to open the Messages application and in the field where the phone number is entered, he will have to enter your email address. When the email address is entered, the Send button will turn blue and send a message via iMessage instead of an SMS.
It is very important that when you want to talk to a friend via iMessage you know what Caller ID he has because if he has an email address set and you try to talk to him using a phone number, iMessage will not work. I hope you find this article useful and please give it to those who still don't know how activation works.
UPDATED: On iPad and iPod Touch, you just have to activate iMessage from the Messages menu of the Settings application. You must also enter a valid email address that will be used by others to send you messages.
