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• When you enable iMessage on your iPhone, you'll be able to send and receive messages using cellular data or Wi-Fi with other iPhones, or over Wi-Fi with iPads or Mac computers.
• iMessage is likely already enabled on your iPhone if you're signed in with your Apple ID, but you may have turned it off if you want to conserve data.
• To enable iMessage on your iPhone, follow the steps below.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In order to send and receive iMessages to your iPhone, iMessage must be enabled. 

By doing this, you will associate your phone number with the email address used for your Apple ID or iCloud account. This will allow you to send and receive the "blue text bubbles" when chatting with other iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. 

When iMessage is enabled, iMessages are sent using a Wi-Fi connection or cellular data when a Wi-Fi connection is not available. 

When iMessage is not enabled, you will receive all messages to your phone as SMS or MMS text messages, if already enabled — which can be beneficial for those with monthly data limits. 

If you have recently bought a new iPhone and set it up using your Apple ID already, iMessage will already be enabled and ready to use. 

But if iMessage isn't enabled, here's how to do it. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone Xs (From $999.99 at Best Buy)

iPad (From $499.99 at Best Buy)

MacBook Pro (From $1,299.99 at Best Buy)

How to enable iMessage on iPhone 

1. First, unlock your iPhone and launch Settings from the home screen. 

2. In Settings, scroll until you find "Messages" and tap. 

In Settings, find Messages. Meira Gebel/Business Insider

3. At the top of the screen, find iMessage. 

At the top, find the iMessage toggle. Meira Gebel/Business Insider

4. If the slider on the right is green, iMessage is already enabled. If not, tap the slider to enable iMessage. 

After activation, you will be able to send and receive iMessages to your iPhone Meira Gebel/Business Insider

5. After activation, you will now be able to send and receive iMessages on your iPhone. 

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• 'Why am I not receiving text messages on my iPhone?': How to fix common iPhone messaging problems

• How to see messages from a blocked number on an iPhone, and filter messages from unknown senders

• How to make a group chat on your iPhone to send messages to many people at once

• How to enable MMS on your iPhone to send multimedia messages without using iMessage

Meira Gebel Meira Gebel is a freelance reporter based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about business, culture, and technology for Insider. Her work has been featured in Digital Trends, Willamette Week, USA Today, and more. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and San Francisco State University.  Feel free to reach out to her on Twitter, where she can be found most of the time, @MeiraGebel. Read more Read less

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