Author Topic: Can I text/message an iPod?  (Read 2681 times)

quelinda

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Can I text/message an iPod?
« on: July 30, 2016, 06:07:39 PM »
My son is starting middle school in the fall, and although I've always been opposed to kids having cell phones, I'm wondering if giving him one only for us to text each other might be a good idea.

We live in a walking community, but he's kind of a flake (doesn't always look when he crosses the street, forgets things, etc.) and I have to pick his little brother up from the elementary school about four blocks from the middle school. My son is not yet comfortable just going home on his own, but he wants to try to walk to meet us.

However, I'm not sure how I would let him know if plans change & I need to drive (i.e., I don't feel well enough to walk, his little brother came home sick, it starts raining hard, etc.). And on his side, if he wants to stay because of some club he wants to check out, he'd need to let me know that, too.

We have a few old iPhone 4s laying around (when we switched to Ting they were not compatible) that can be used as iPods. This got me thinking -- if he takes one of those, and uses the school wifi, is there a way for us to message each other? Maybe some kind of app we could use?

arebelspy

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Re: Can I text/message an iPod?
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2016, 06:19:38 PM »
You'll need to try a few of the texting apps (whatsapp, apple imessages, etc.)--they all work over WiFi, but the school's firewall may block them, so that's why you'll need to test to see what works.  (And, of course, it won't work when he's not in range of the WiFi--e.g. walking home).
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MoonLiteNite

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Re: Can I text/message an iPod?
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2016, 10:30:29 AM »
You'll need to try a few of the texting apps (whatsapp, apple imessages, etc.)--they all work over WiFi, but the school's firewall may block them, so that's why you'll need to test to see what works.  (And, of course, it won't work when he's not in range of the WiFi--e.g. walking home).

To by  pass this, you can get onto the tor network (the evil dark web) and bypass all the security from the school.
I use this at my work's wifi since they block some websites, while they snoop on others, like facebook

plog

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Re: Can I text/message an iPod?
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2016, 10:34:56 AM »
Google Voice has a good free app, Text Me, Yahoo messenger let's you send SMS.  Then if all of those don't work, he can always send an email to a text number:

http://20somethingfinance.com/how-to-send-text-messages-sms-via-email-for-free/

arebelspy

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Re: Can I text/message an iPod?
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2016, 03:42:08 PM »
You'll need to try a few of the texting apps (whatsapp, apple imessages, etc.)--they all work over WiFi, but the school's firewall may block them, so that's why you'll need to test to see what works.  (And, of course, it won't work when he's not in range of the WiFi--e.g. walking home).

To by  pass this, you can get onto the tor network (the evil dark web) and bypass all the security from the school.
I use this at my work's wifi since they block some websites, while they snoop on others, like facebook

On an old iPhone?  Maybe there's a jailbroken app for that on Cydia, I suppose.  Certainly not going to be on the app store.  ;)

But a proxy/VPN could work, unless those are blocked as well.  It'll just be a process of trying things to see what works.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

geekette

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Re: Can I text/message an iPod?
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2016, 03:51:28 PM »
We have a few old iPhone 4s laying around (when we switched to Ting they were not compatible) that can be used as iPods. This got me thinking -- if he takes one of those, and uses the school wifi, is there a way for us to message each other? Maybe some kind of app we could use?
If you're on an iPhone, he can use iMessage on wifi (as long as it's not blocked by the school, of course).