How To Set up Mac To Send and Receive SMS Text Messages

Apple released iOS 8.1 on Monday, October 20, 2014. Users will now be able to send and receive SMS Text messages from iPhone to Mac running Yosemite OS X. This is part of Apple’s Continuity package which they showed off when first showing Yosemite OS X to the public. It allows users to send, receive, and, reply to SMS messages directly from their Mac. I know this will help me communicate with many people I talk to throughout the day who have Android devices. iMessage is great but it doesn’t allow users without Mac or iOS to communicate with those who do through iMessage directly. I was always having to use my iPhone SMS text to communicate with those who weren’t in the Apple ecosystem. But Thanks to Apple that has all changed. However, there are a couple requirements in order to get this working properly. We are going to share those requirements with you now.

How To Send and Receive SMS Text Messages on Yosemite OS X

Users will need to be running iOS 8.1 and Yosemite OS X 10.10
Navigate to Settings > Messages from here there should be an option called “Text Message Forwarding” just below iMessage toggle switch which shows “Allow your iPhone text messages to also be sent and received on other devices signed into iMessage account.
Choosing this option will bring up a pane of devices capable of connecting with and transmitting text to and from your iPhone.
Users may choose on a per device basis. This makes it more customizable where the text will actually appear. If you choose a certain device to receive and send SMS you will be required to enter a code which appears on the Mac when you enable text message forwarding.
Once the devices are paired you are ready to send and receive SMS Text through your Mac.

One more cool thing about using this feature is users can initiate Text conversations by highlighting numbers inside other Mac apps such as Safari, Contacts, Spotlight, or Calendar. It makes it extremely convenient to say the least.