How to Send Files via Text Message
Don’t let old technology like MMS limit what you can share or who you can text your large files to.
IN THIS GUIDE, YOU’RE GOING TO READ THE OPTIONS TO SHARE BIG FILE VIA TEXT MESSAGE:
Sometimes when you are on the go you need to share a file and fast. You reach into your pocket, pull out your smartphone and think, “forget email – I’m going to text this file”. It should be easy, right? After all, sending a text message is so easy that a child can do it, and attaching a file should just be a couple of extra taps.
As it happens, though, knowing how to send a file can be a little different to actually sending a file by text message. The technology that allows a cell phone user to shoot a file to someone else using a text is more than 20 years old now and it’s running up against constraints that might not have been imagined when it was first introduced as an upgrade to the standard text message protocol.
In this article we’ll explain how MMS works, how to send a file via an MMS text message, and some of the problems that people who try and text marge files can run into (spoiler: there are a few!). We’ll also look at an alternative to texting a file by MMS and explain why this method – still using the text protocol – is a better bet for your files.
MMS: The Old Way to Share Files via Text Message
For people who have grown up with cell phones and mobile computing, the two original ways to send messages on a portable phone were SMS (short messaging service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service). An SMS was great for short text messages, usually limited to 160 characters. MMS, on the other hand, could be used to send multimedia messages which could include files such as images, videos, and documents.
MMS was great as an alternative to the text-only SMS option, but it was also limited. For one, it emerged in an era when there was not a lot in the way of data bandwidth available to cell phone users. WAP and Edge networks – the sorts of networks that exist only as a last resort in desperate situations today – were all that existed in most places when MMS launched – and they were expensive to use. Still, the MMS protocol allowed users to share files, as long as they stuck to the limits imposed by networks.
As network bandwidth grew and as cell phone users migrated from 2G to 3G to 4G and now 5G networks, MMS remained an option for many users. While messaging applications emerged that would make sending files easier, MMS is still chugging along as a way for sending files via text message from one device to another while on the move. However, we can question the effectiveness of text messaging for sending large videos or numerous photos via text message.
How to Send a File via Text
Sending a file with MMS is about as easy as sending a text by SMS, and that’s by design. While there are some small and subtle differences between cell phones on the Android and iOS platforms, it’s really pretty straightforward:
Open your text messaging application
Select your recipient or enter their cell phone number
Tap the + or attachment symbol next to the messaging bubble
Select your file, attach it to the message, and tap the send icon
Android phones will default to sending an MMS or RCS (Rich Communication Service) message, but it is a little different on iOS. Apple devices will send a file as an MMS only when the receiving device is not using iOS, that is, when it is an Android device or when it is to a group chat including Android devices. Why the difference? Well, it is mainly because texting a file with MS is becoming an outdated technology. With more than 20 years of service – a lifetime in the rapidly evolving world of technology – MMS is one way to text a file, but it might not be the best way.
Three Problems with Sending Files via Text Message
Here are three reasons why texting your file with MMS might cause you problems:
1. Your file is too big
Files aren’t quite as small as they used to be, right? A typical image is a couple of megabytes, a short video can be ten times that, and a full length video or a large corporate document can be 100s of megabytes or well into the gigabyte realm. MMS isn’t made to deal with such files: typically, the largest file that can be sent as an MMS is just 3MB in size. That’s a single large image, a couple of minutes of audio, or just 8 seconds of video that you shoot on a smartphone. Unless your file is small enough to fit this constraint, sending it as an MMS is going to be impossible – and that’s assuming that the limit for your network or in your country is as large as that, because…
2. No support from network operators
Increasingly, MMS is no longer supported by certain networks and in certain countries. As WhatsApp, Signal, Messages, and Facebook Messenger take over the file sharing space on mobile phones, support for MMS is falling away. Already networks in countries including India, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, and Germany have ceased to support MMS which will might leave you frustrated if you are trying to send an MMS from one of those countries…or if your recipient is trying to receive the MMS there. While it is true that RCS is meant to help avoid such problems, right now iOS devices don’t support the RCS standard which means you (or your recipient) might be plum out of luck.
3. File Compression Problems
You’re trying to send a file, right? Not a version of a file or a sort of the same type of file; you’re just trying to send the file. Unfortunately, when you send via MMS there is a good chance that your file will be compressed and the quality of the audio, video, or graphical image changed in the process. Imagine a 6MB video – something about 20 seconds long – being degraded to the point where it is half the size so that it will be transferred by MMS. Video resolution? Destroyed. Video quality? Downgraded. Audio quality? Forget it. When you send through MMS – assuming it actually gets sent and received – there’s a good chance that the file that you send won’t be the same as the one on your own device that you wanted to send.
If all of this is making it sound like sending a file via text message is a bad idea, don’t panic. There is a way to do it, and you won’t have to worry about the size of your file, the network you or your recipient are using, the country you are sending from or to, or whether what you send and what is received is the same. That way is called Smash.
How to Share a File via Text Message with Smash
Smash is purpose built to send large files no matter the platform and no matter your network connection. Unlike text messaging a file via MMS, Smash doesn’t limit the size of the file that you can transfer, and it will never mess with the resolution of a video or degrade the audio to fit a pre-defined codec. What’s more, unlike MMS, a Smash transfer works in every country and on every network and device. Android, iOS, desktop computer or even wearable tech, it just works with Smash. Here’s how you can text a file with Smash:
Go to the Smash website
Tap on the icon in the middle of the screen, select your file, and upload
Add your email address, add password protection if you like, and then copy the unique URL
Paste the URL into text messaging application and tap to send
Unlike an MMS, the link that you are sending takes only a handful of characters, so it’ll fit easily within the limits of an SMS. As well, because it is a link you can send it by text or any other means of communication: email, Message, Slack, Signal, WhatsApp…the list goes on.
Perhaps best of all, unlike MMS which can cost you a pretty penny in roaming charges, Smash’s file transfer service is free. No matter the size of the file that you are sharing, no matter the quality of the image or video, no matter how long the song or album you’ll share, and no matter the file type you share, it’s always free to transfer that file by text message with Smash. It’s so easy to use, you’ll quickly find yourself wondering why you’ll ever use MMS again!
Conclusion: The Best Way to Send Files via Text Message
MMS was a great solution for its time. Indeed, when people were limited to texting just 160 characters, the chance to send an image, a video, or a file by MMS was a huge step forward. But technology has changed and the limits on texting via MMS make it a poor fit for today’s world of large files with its expectations of easy sharing.
With Smash, there are no problems to text a large file. Whether it’s an image or a video, a document or a PowerPoint presentation, a last minute mock-up of a website for a customer or some family photos that you promised to share around the dinner table the week before, Smash can handle it. Sending a file with Smash is a cinch on the go with Android and iOS apps available for download. If you’re not already a Smash user, though, the web portal is available via any browser, mobile or desktop, and you’ll be able to text your file in just a few seconds.
Don’t limit your sharing to MMS and don’t let yourself get stuck in the past, subject to all the constraints of an aging text system. Smash is free, always open, and ready to help you text your large files now.
Need To Send Large Files via Text Message
Use Smash, it’s no file size limits, simple, fast, secure and free.
Frequently Asked Questions
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SMS is a text-only messaging service and MMS allows you to send multimedia files, too. There are hard limits on both, though, whether it is the 160 characters for SMS, or the file size limits for MMS. Typically, the same messaging application on a portable device will be capable of sending both SMS and MMS, as long as the services are supported in the country where you are sending or receiving the message. Alternatively, Smash is available on every platform and operating system, and will always allow you to send videos for free!
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No! Smash will transfer a file of any size to any person using any device. From a document that is just a little too big to attach to an email, a PPT file filed with heavy animations and detailed graphics, an 8K video that runs for a couple of hours – it doesn’t matter. Smash is capable of sending any file of any size: if you can upload it, Smash can send it.
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You can use Smash with any instant messaging service. When you generate your shareable link from Smash, you can drop it in an Apple Message, a Facebook Messenger chat, a WhatsApp group chat, an email, or any other means of communicating online. The link will work on any device and there’s no need for your recipient to download special software on their phone or computer in order to download or view the file. With Smash, sharing is simple, and it just works!
