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Comment by jaywalk | Hacker News Reader

Yes, you do need Apple hardware to use iMessage. But as your quote states, there are no other monthly fees associated with it. You don't need a cellular plan, or indeed even a device with cellular connectivity at all. And you can still send/receive iMessages the same as anyone else.

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I don’t own any Apple hardware and no desire to own any, let alone keep it turned on. I do already have a mobile phone number that works. I believe I am among the majority of adults in Australia in this combination (though it’s quite slim and based on estimation).

If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, fine, and that is kinda the target of the article; but it’s worded in a way that I don’t like and find extremely misleading, since it’s also about interactions with others, who have a fair chance of not possessing the required hardware.

That's fantastic that you have a mobile number that works. How can you use it on a WiFi-only tablet to send messages to people using that number?

Yeah, I know, you use third-party apps for that. That's not the point.

Haven’t done it on a tablet, but from my laptop I SSH into my phone and run sxmo_modemsendsms.sh ‹contact-name-or-number› ‹message›. :-)

Ah, sorry. I didn't realize this problem was solved for the general public already :)

How is a third-party app that's available for both Android and iOS worse than iMessage that's iOS only? How is a mobile number that can be bought from literally hundreds of different carriers all over the world worse than an Apple ID that only Apple can provide and can take away at any time?

How does that work without internet? And you can only send iMessage to a small part of the population, as only people who have iMessage can receive it, is that correct?

“Without cellular connectivity” ≠ “without internet”.

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