Send SMS Text Messages From AIM for Free
Posted by David Kirk in Instant messaging
AIM is an easy and free way to send SMS text messages.
Instant messages and SMS messages are very similar. One day the two will be completely interchangable and probably more popular than email. Recently this integration has begun.
With all modern versions of AIM, users can send SMS messages to most mobile SMS-capable devices.
1. Click IM
2. In the “To” field enter the phone number in the following format:
+12223334444
The leading “+1″ is required before the 10 digit phone number.
This will work with any IM client that uses the AIM protocol too. Here is me demonstrating it using the adium client:
Some phone services will let you reply to AIM as well; however, this is not yet standard. Here is my iPhone receiving and replying back to the text message:
AIM now has a related new feature as well. You can “add mobile” numbers to your buddy list just as easy as adding other AIM accounts.
1. Click Setup
2. Click Add Mobile
3. Insert number as directed.
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The Conversation
Follow the reactions below and share your own thoughts.
October 10, 2008 at 6:06 am, Matt said:
Is it consider a text message to the person receiving it on the phone?
October 12, 2008 at 3:41 pm, Alex said:
This just stopped working for me recently. It doesn’t reply notifying that my message has been sent to the phone number and I know that those people I send too have text messaging.
October 20, 2008 at 7:33 pm, son said:
can we use this method to send message in yahoo using phone number as the address?
November 06, 2008 at 2:31 pm, Tanzeel Ahmad Shiekh said:
Only speaking from experience, Cingular charges for an AIM-generated SMS messages just like any other SMS message that is received.
Of course, there is no way to bill the person creating the SMS message using AIM
December 18, 2008 at 5:26 am, gotnate said:
it would appear that the AIM sms gateway is down right now, i can’t send a message to my own phone or my friends phone. it says that mine is offline and my friend never got his O_o
Edit: suddenly my phone is in my buddy list and i can send messages to it.
February 20, 2009 at 3:38 pm, reginald davis said:
thank you for our time…..for the last two days i have not been able to sign in to my yahoo site….as if someone has changed my password and id! i have had this free site for over 5 years now and i would hate to loose everything i have saved over the years……please if you can find the time in your busy schule…………..i need access to my site! thank you for any help………..reddogdudu at yahoo.com
March 04, 2009 at 12:07 am, Jackie said:
when you send an sms it asks the person if they want to accept sms through aim by texting back the letter “a” if a person denies it is there any way to accept it again if they change their mind.
everytime i try to send it again it says the user does not accept sms through aim
April 26, 2009 at 7:33 pm, rodney said:
did you ever find an answer i am having the same problem
May 26, 2009 at 8:11 pm, Tamika said:
Yes i am having the same problem with it as well! doesn’ anyone know how to change it?
August 23, 2009 at 6:12 pm, Anonymous said:
Did u find the answer to the problem??
September 13, 2009 at 6:35 am, David Nichols said:
You can also change your IM to Mobile settings using text messages right from your phone. Text any of the following commands to 265019:
‘a’ Accept all text message IMs from the specified sender
‘d’ Decline all text message IMs from the specified sender
*** ‘on’ Allow all text message IMs from any sender *** try this one
‘off’ Block all text message IMs from any sender
‘ask’ Ask Me to accept or decline each new sender
‘block screenname’ Block all text messages from a specific sender
‘unblock screenname’ Unblock a previously blocked sender
‘help’ List of commonly used IM to Mobile setting commands
July 28, 2010 at 3:30 am, mclovincldubz said:
Thank You!! This is the only way i’ve found to block messages to my phone from AIM that wouldn’t cost money…you’re a life-saver
September 10, 2010 at 3:00 am, Skiz said:
Thank you! Just started getting AIM spam on my phone, and I’ve never even had AIM. Frustrating that AOL allows and supports this type of blatent abuse.
Seems like your fix works though. Should be off by default, you should have to opt in, and even then, only from people you trust and accept.
April 17, 2009 at 6:02 am, Anonymous said:
hey text back is me veronica
April 20, 2009 at 12:22 am, Dan said:
ok, why does the ‘characters remaining’ not work all the time? It is very inconsistent. Is there a patch, or an AIM version that actually fixes this? Oh I’m talking about texting to a phone of course. Otherwise it doesn’t matter the amount of characters.
December 06, 2009 at 10:47 pm, Anonymous said:
Yoo This keeps happing to me 2 !!! you find an answer yet?
April 20, 2009 at 10:41 pm, socalrj said:
How do you get rid of “So and so sent you a message from AIM” and “You can reply to this message”? it’s very annoying.
May 15, 2009 at 8:18 pm, duck said:
so does that mean its counted as an actual text message? like charged as one and everything?
May 22, 2009 at 12:21 am, robert said:
good
June 15, 2009 at 11:45 pm, Haley said:
someones been iming/texting my phone from aim. how do i block them?
June 19, 2009 at 2:54 am, Isaac said:
I am trying to text to my mobile with Aim but it shows that Im offline.
I use to be able to do it up last week,
Pls advice how can I fix this problem.
Thanks
June 26, 2009 at 5:32 pm, kelsey said:
the same thing is happenign to me.!
June 22, 2009 at 2:25 pm, Sharon said:
A user I added to my buddylist last week is showing online, but I can’t confirm that he’s receiving messages. Any new cell numbers are showing offline and respond with “user is not accepting offline messages” type error. Is this service offline?
August 23, 2009 at 6:11 pm, Anonymous said:
Help please!
I sent a text to a friend on my iPod Touch using the free AIM. He deleted the text without accepting it, how am I supposed to re-send it for him?
August 31, 2009 at 7:09 pm, Anonymous said:
how do i change someone’s name from their mobile number to their name or nickname when in the conversation box while texting them?
September 02, 2009 at 3:51 pm, Name said:
how do you block aim user from texting your cell phone?
October 04, 2009 at 10:54 pm, LAURA GUERRERO said:
i was able to text from aim to just about everyone, now it says offline, even when i text myself, and I know I am not offline??? Any idea’s
L
http://www.toplineautomotive.biz
October 04, 2009 at 10:55 pm, LAURA GUERRERO said:
did you find out why, I used to aim text all the time to all phones, now I am getting the message you are
October 05, 2009 at 12:35 am, Sarah said:
The same thing is happening to me!
October 05, 2009 at 2:04 am, coby said:
lmao same here…. all my phones are offline now
October 05, 2009 at 2:41 am, Anonymous said:
how do you fix it?
October 05, 2009 at 3:54 am, Name said:
Im having this same problem except i can still get texts from the offline phones… any ideas?
March 04, 2010 at 3:07 am, Pawl said:
Try signing in to aim on a pc…this reset all my buddies’ mobile status
October 05, 2009 at 8:17 pm, Anonymous said:
it’s not working for me?? all the phones on my buddy list appear offline and whenever i send a message to a phone the phone doesn’t get it and it says this person currently appears offline
October 28, 2009 at 7:03 pm, Anonymous said:
This is just a test
October 31, 2009 at 5:57 am, Anonymous said:
will someone please explain how i send a message as a text i just got this e-mail address and i havent figured out how this works i went to my e-mail account and see no options to send a mobile message…..PLEEEEEEEEEASE HELP ME!
November 11, 2009 at 6:20 pm, birkin said:
Your post is really great and I appreciate your straight approach.
November 14, 2009 at 12:16 am, Anonymous said:
Can you im someones phone and have them text your screen name back even if your offline. Will you recieve it as an offline message?
December 06, 2009 at 10:43 pm, Anonymous said:
when i completed all the steps and type in wut i wanna say it doesnt send? any answers
December 06, 2009 at 10:50 pm, Anonymous said:
Anybody have the problem that the ‘characters remaining’ not work all the time? Any answers???
January 06, 2010 at 12:26 am, naomi said:
It says : +1xxxxxxxx is not avaible .
what do i have to dooo
February 15, 2010 at 4:39 pm, Anonymous said:
what you did was incorrect you do not use the xxxxxxxxx as the number you want to call you have you replace the X’s with an actual phone number for example +1909 458 6565
January 18, 2010 at 4:40 am, Anonymous said:
how do i make it so that people cant send me ims to my cell phone number
January 21, 2010 at 6:57 pm, Matt said:
You may want to try http://www.textyourbuddy.com It seems to work pretty well.
February 15, 2010 at 4:36 pm, Anonymous said:
Thats weird it was working for my sidekick lx then all of a sudden it stopped does anyone have an idea of what i could have done wrong by any chance
March 02, 2010 at 5:23 pm, Anonymous said:
tht kool..but how do u aim txt
March 03, 2010 at 9:03 pm, Anonymous said:
I have a buddy with just a mobile number and it says he is offline? But it is a mobile number? What do i do?
March 04, 2010 at 4:16 pm, Richard said:
I have the exact same issue suddenly. What happened?
September 05, 2010 at 8:27 pm, Melisgard said:
i have same problem i called him and he said no he hasnt been reciving my aim messages, wats happening???
April 17, 2010 at 3:22 pm, Guest said:
can you block someone from sending you text messages on a blackberry?
April 25, 2010 at 5:42 pm, Anonymous said:
does it work in uk
August 03, 2010 at 3:52 am, lizzy b said:
Nope! my ex is in the army, in afghanistan with a cell fone from there. and we txt all the time using aim
August 27, 2010 at 8:27 am, cash-bee said:
it’s not working . How do i do it if i have a T-mobile Sidekick09 ?
October 16, 2010 at 3:25 am, Cb_doc said:
My husband is in Afghanistan. I’ve been trying to text his number by every means possible but he cannot get them. I have been texting him via Skype and he gets them but cannot send back. How were you guys doing it?
November 14, 2010 at 5:19 am, sfisher8592 said:
how do you add the number into the mobile settings if they live out of country? im talking to someone out in the UK and he can’t get his mobile number to register so we can’t AIM text and i don’t have the money to add international texting/calling… any ideas?
Thanks
~Sarah
August 10, 2010 at 2:31 am, missi said:
salut
August 18, 2010 at 4:34 pm, Suyapa_mejia said:
amor conectate al msj
August 19, 2010 at 4:17 pm, Yessfnait_ said:
salam tahna
October 11, 2010 at 6:21 pm, bunny said:
Does this work with cricket??????
November 21, 2010 at 12:25 am, Hinnie said:
How do you send picture messages through aim to a friend that’s mobile? 0-o
November 21, 2010 at 1:49 am, AtaahuaPhiche said:
So I am trying to text a cell phone from AIM. It says that the phone is capable of being txtd by AIM but for some reason my txt messagees won’t get through. I’m very confused.
December 02, 2010 at 6:00 pm, Pathofskulls said:
Is it possible to text a 14digit number from AIM?
February 10, 2011 at 2:16 am, michelle said:
how do you unblock message aim user from your phone when i try to aim text it says Free:msg Receiver 265019 unable to receieve message – message blocking is active
March 27, 2011 at 6:31 am, Shahmeer1998 said:
Does this work in other countries besides US. I live in Pakistan and want to send a message to a Pakistani mobile
July 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm, JAMES CEEYU said:
IF YOU NEED HELP RETRIEVING INFORMATION FROM A CELL PHONE LIKE INCOMING/OUTGOING TEXT MESSAGES,DELETED TEXT MESSAGES,ONLINE ACCOUNT PASSCODES,VOICEMAIL PASSCODE,EMAIL PASSWPRODS, CLONING OF CELL PHONES ,TRACKING ANY MOBILE CELL NUMBER AND MANY MORE,YOU CAN CONTACT AT JCEEYU@YAHOO.COM
September 06, 2011 at 8:59 pm, Emma said:
does it cost money?
December 29, 2011 at 5:04 am, Unmanyday said:
Summerinaskinalk
January 13, 2012 at 10:28 pm, Nancy said:
I use this method all the time on a Mac with iChat. It has built in AIM features. Then you create “Buddies” and in the AIM field on the Info card you put the +15555555555 number. Used it on Jan 12, 2012 so it’s definitely still working in some capacity.