For quite some time now you’ve been able to send iMessages directly from your computer. However, that was limited to iMessages; if you wanted to text someone on Android, Blackberry, etc., you were out of luck. But beginning with the combination OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1, your computer, iPad, and iPod Touch are now capable of connecting to your iPhone to send SMS and MMS messages. This feature is brand new, so I haven’t heard yet if there are specific system requirements for this to work. And I’ve heard reports that enabling it can be kind of buggy but I expect the problems to be ironed out with an update soon.
Enable the feature
- On your iPhone open Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding (you may need to turn on iMessages if it isn’t already).
- Slide the switch on for one device you’d like to enable for SMS.
- Take a look at the device and enter the code that pops up onto your iPhone.
- Repeat 2 and 3 for each additional device.
Send messages
Now you can send a message from your messages app without worrying about what kind of device your recipient is using. Just send the message from the Messages program and your computer will figure out how to send it.