I can use iChat to send SMS messages to my phone, and my phone can send an SMS message back to my iChat.
First, under File>New Chat With Person, I added my phone number with a leading +, 1, the area code, and the seven digit number (so, it looks like +1xxxxxxxxxx). I can’t immediately chat with my phone because of my privacy settings, but I can add my phone as a buddy. Once I do that, I type in a message and it shows up on my almost immediately as a text message on my phone.
If I reply to the message from my phone, the message shows up in the iChat window just like any other chat session.
This is more than just the standard geekery though: this means I can easily send a text message to my wife without dealing with my phone. There were probably other ways to do that easily (such as T-Mobile’s web interface and also email), but I like how iChat adds my buddy name in front of the message rather than some odd gateway name, and that I get the reply back in iChat. Very handy.
This seems really neat, but...
I tried to add my phone as a buddy and it asked to add the number [e.g., +,1,then the 10 digit one] and then came back and said it could not because it is not in the right format. Maybe I'm missing something but it's not working....
This seems really neat, but...
No commas, just the + and the digits. :)
US only?
is this a US only feature, or do you guys think there're some ways to get it works here in Europe too?
iChat with Your TV
Andy Ihnatko set up a system where he can iChat with his Tivo. It allows him to watch tv over the internet with content recorded by his Tivo.
http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/secrets/junegeekfactor/index.php
I've thought about creating an AppleScript - Perl combo hack in order to send myself files or access data with iChat. I guess one could send SMS messages via cell phone to an iChat in order to get data off of a remote computer.
This didn't work for me
I tried to send it to my phone and a friend's phone and it didn't work for either. I got no error in iChat, it just never showed up on the phones. I'm using Verizon if that makes any difference.
This didn't work for me
I'm on Verizon, and it has worked for me.
Make sure you are using the right format: +1AAAPPPNNNN
where AAA is the area code (3 digits)
PPPPPPP is the 7-digit number
No commas, spaces, etc.
The first time I tried it, I did something wrong, but I can't remember what (sorry!). When I double-checked everything, it started working.
Old news
This is old news and unfortunately it still seems to be working only with US numbers.
More info here
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