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From your Mac

Send a text message from your Mac.

Your Mac's Messages app sends two kinds of texts. Blue ones need only an Apple Account. Green ones, to phones that aren't iPhones, go through your iPhone.

Blue or green?

  • iMessage (blue): to people using iMessage on an Apple device. Apple says you need an Apple Account, and it’s end-to-end encrypted.
  • SMS, MMS or RCS (green): to any mobile phone, including Android. From a Mac, Apple says you need an iPhone. Availability depends on your carrier and region.

Set up iMessage

  1. Open Messages on your Mac.
  2. Sign in with your Apple Account email or phone number and password. Use the same Apple Account as on your other devices.
  3. Optional: in Messages > Settings > iMessage, turn on Enable Messages in iCloud and choose the phone number or email people see.

Send a text

  1. Select a conversation in the sidebar, or click the Compose button.
  2. In the To field, type a phone number, a contact name or an Apple Account.
  3. Type your message at the bottom. Use the apps button to add photos, videos and more.
  4. Press Return.

Text someone who doesn’t have an iPhone

Your iPhone does the sending. Apple says both devices need the same Apple Account with iMessage on. Then either turn on Messages in iCloud on both, or set up Text Message Forwarding:

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings > Apps > Messages and make sure iMessage is on.
  2. Tap Send & Receive and check the Apple Account matches your Mac.
  3. Go back, tap Text Message Forwarding, and turn on your Mac.

Your iPhone has to be on and connected, and able to send texts itself. Don’t see Text Message Forwarding? Apple says to turn iMessage off and back on, then sign in again under Send & Receive.

Can you text from a Mac without a phone?

Yes, by iMessage, to people who use iMessage. Green-bubble texts to other phones need an iPhone, per Apple.

Forward a text

Control-click the message (or an attachment in it) and choose Forward.

Not going through? See Messages not sending on your Mac? Sending a file instead of a text? See Send a file by iMessage. Sent the wrong thing? See How to unsend or edit a message on your Mac.

Sources: Apple Messages User Guide Set up Messages on Mac and Send a message on Mac, and Apple Support Forward text messages from your iPhone to other devices and What is the difference between iMessage, RCS, and SMS/MMS?, checked October 27, 2026.

Sending files to the same people every week? Sendoff

Sendoff is a Mac app that lives in the notch and sends a file by iMessage or Gmail, whichever each person uses. Drop the file, pick the person, press Send off. It ranks your regulars first, like your mom or your teammate, and routes around what won’t work: a 48 MB video goes by iMessage instead of Gmail. You get 3 seconds to undo.

Join the waitlist below, and tick the beta box if you want to test it first.