Help How do you send photos with a text message?

[Mike75]

Wife and I are new smartphone users that came from voice only flip-phones. How do "you" attach photos from your phone's camera in a reduced size for fast transmission with a text message? Need a super simple way, especially for my wife since she's never used a computer or a smart phone. Thanks.

Samsung Galaxy On5 with Marshmallow. Rear facing camera is 5MB.

 

[Bg260]

Usually the messaging app will reduce the size. There might be a setting for maximum mms size.
When texting there should be a paperclip in the message box. That is attachments.

 

[AZgl1500]

You just need to have DATA enabled, and then add the photo in your SMS app.

The Textra SMS app, makes it even easier.
If you wish, to save DATA plan minutes, you can leave DATA turned OFF all the time.
Textra will turn it ON just long enough to send the photo, and then turn it off again.

I bought the paid version of Textra, the Devs deserves some coin for writing such a neat app.
totally configurable to your way of thinking...


Textra will ask you in the settings, if you want the photo reduced in size to save on the DATA bytes.
I shortcut that problem, by setting my phone's camera to a default of 2048

No one can tell the difference on any Internet forum page, that the original picture is NOT 16 mBytes or more.... it just cannot be displayed on the typical laptop or PC screen.
Most pictures are 640 or 800 in size anyway....

 

[Fox Mulder]

Or, you can just go to your image gallery and select the photo there, tap the share icon and select Messaging, and presto it will open a new text message with the image already attached. Just select your recipient, add any text you want and hit send.

 

[Mike75]

Usually the messaging app will reduce the size. There might be a setting for maximum mms size.
When texting there should be a paperclip in the message box. That is attachments.

The Textra SMS app, makes it even easier.
If you wish, to save DATA plan minutes, you can leave DATA turned OFF all the time.
Textra will turn it ON just long enough to send the photo, and then turn it off again.
Textra will ask you in the settings, if you want the photo reduced in size to save on the DATA bytes.
I shortcut that problem, by setting my phone's camera to a default of 2048

Or, you can just go to your image gallery and select the photo there, tap the share icon and select Messaging, and presto it will open a new text message with the image already attached. Just select your recipient, add any text you want and hit send.

Bg260, AZgl1500 and FoxMulder,
Thank you very much for taking the time to help me out. I need to clarify that my new phone has Tmobile's 5GB data plan but my wife's new Galaxy On5 phone is continuing her legacy Tmobile voice only prepaid plan. So she can only use Wifi to send her text messages. (She didn't want a data plan since she said she won't use it while out of the house. She's not a computer person - smile.)

I tried Textra and set the "Carrier send Limit" to 300KB. Attached a 1.26MB photo from her phone's 5MP camera and Textra took a really long time (like over 10 minutes) and then failed to send the text+pic message.

I had tried Google Messenger to send a text msg + the same 1.26MB pic and it took a long time (like over 10 minutes) but eventually sent the message successfully.

Then from Googling I read a review of a text msg app (forget which one) and it said that some services require that "mobile data" must be turned on when sending text messages via Wifi. I had turned "mobile data" off on my wife's phone for testing text messaging via Wifi since her phone only has Tmobile's legacy voice only prepaid plan. So I turned "mobile data" on, on her phone.

Wow, what a difference! Google Messenger sent the text message with the 1.26MB photo in about 5 seconds. I checked the size of the received photo in my phone and it is 952.8KB. Noting Bg260's reply, it looked like Google Messenger was auto reducing the photo. So I copied a 2.38MB photo from my PC into my wife's phone. Sent that using Google Messenger and bang, it sent it in about 5 seconds. I checked the size of that received photo on my phone and it is 814.3 KB. --- So yes, Google Messenger is indeed auto resizing photos down to less than 1MB.

Now I tried Textra again. But unfortunately it still choked on sending the 1.26MB photo taken with my wife's phone's camera. Hung for a long time sending the text msg and eventually stopped with a green border on the left side of the text msg. Never received it on my phone.

So in summary, Google Messenger really works well when sending text messages with a photo via Wifi. Just be sure that the phone's "mobile data" is turned on even if the phone's plan does not have data included.

Hope this helps some folks out. Either without data in their plan, or with data but want to save their data by sending text messages with photos via wifi.

Thanks again to the responders,
Mike75

 

[AZgl1500]

Now I tried Textra again. But unfortunately it still choked on sending the 1.26MB photo taken with my wife's phone's camera. Hung for a long time sending the text msg and eventually stopped with a green border on the left side of the text msg. Never received it on my phone.

you missed a VERY IMPORTANT Preferences Menu, let me find it for you.

you must turn this ON

 

[AZgl1500]

Once that is ON, you will not see the delays you mentioned.
even if DATA is turned OFF, as mine is all the time, MMS pictures go thru in a flash for me.

 

[Mike75]

So in summary, Google Messenger really works well when sending text messages with a photo via Wifi. Just be sure that the phone's "mobile data" is turned on even if the phone's plan does not have data included.

Update: I tried the Samsung "Messages" app that comes stock with the Galaxy On5. It used to choke on sending photos with text messages before when I had "mobile data" turned off. With "mobile data" turned on, Messages sent a 1.71MB camera photo in about 5 seconds. I received it on my phone and it's size is 81.93KB.

So even the stock "Messages" app that comes with the Galaxy On5 phone auto resizes photos down when attached to text messages.

Mike75

 

[Mike75]

you missed a VERY IMPORTANT Preferences Menu, let me find it for you.

you must turn this ON

View attachment 109072

I checked Textra's settings. On my version (the lastest one just downloaded), under "Stagefright Protection" there is no "Activate Mobile Data" option. There is a "Prefer WiFi" option which I remember now that I had turned on since my wife's phone can only use WiFi. I turned "Prefer WiFi" off and now Textra sent a camera photo in about 7 seconds. On my phone, the photo was resized down to 271.3KB so Textra's option to resize down to a user selected size (I had set it to 300KB) does indeed work well.

UPDATE: I cannot find an option in the On5's stock "Messages" app or in Googles "Messenger" app to set the maximum size of images sent. Apparently one must just use the default resize down size. --- Textra is the only one of the three that allows the user to specifically set the maximum size of photos sent with text messages. --- Googling, it seems that "Handcent" also allows the user to select the maximum size of photos, but I haven't tried it.

Thanks for your help,
Mike75

 

[Bg260]

The stock Samsung app is all I've ever used. For some reason, in my S4 at least, the stock apps always seem to run smoother than any others.

 

[Mike75]

The stock Samsung app is all I've ever used. For some reason, in my S4 at least, the stock apps always seem to run smoother than any others.

Thanks for your insight. I'll continue testing the 3 text msg apps discussed and see which one will be the easiest for my wife to use. Cheers!

UPDATE:
In evaluating the 3 text msg apps discussed. I noticed the following:
... Google Messenger ...... Resizes down to about 800-900 KB.
... Stock On5 Messages ... Resizes down to about 80 KB.
... Textra SMS ................. Resizes down to user selected size so 300KB is an option.

If the recipient can receive photos attached to text messages at about 800-900 KB, then Messenger can be a good option. Using the On5's stock Messages, the photo is resized down quite small so less quality if the recipient wants to print the image, but it does save "data" useage for the sender while not on Wifi. Textra can adjust the image size to suit the sender and recipient.

 

[Bg260]

Wow, talk about options! Thanks for sharing your findings.

Just for kicks and grins, try this out.
Instead of sending the image, send a link to the image or anything up to 10Gb. The recipient can choose how they want to download.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estmob.android.sendanywhere

 

[AZgl1500]

I completely glossed over the fact that your wife's phone does not have a DATA plan.

oops, and Textra realized that, so it did not show you the option to turn DATA on.

thanks for showing us all that you found, I'm an old dog, and I need the tricks taught to me over and over...

 

[Mike75]

Wow, talk about options! Thanks for sharing your findings.

Just for kicks and grins, try this out.
Instead of sending the image, send a link to the image or anything up to 10Gb. The recipient can choose how they want to download.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estmob.android.sendanywhere

I checked the link you posted. Couldn't quite figure out if SendAnywhere works like Google Drive or Dropbox where the sender sends the full resolution photos to store on the server. Then the user sends the recipient a link to the photos and the recipient has the option to view or download from the server. I've stored full res photos from my PC to Google and sent links to friends and it worked well.

It seems that SendAnywhere is storing and sending the photos from the sender's computer. The sender does not upload the full resolution photos to be stored on their server. Is that how it works? This is what I couldn't quite understand.

 

[Bg260]

Yes, depending on the method it will store from 10 minutes up to 48 hours. The ten minute method requires the receiver to also have the app.
It is also available in Chrome and Firefox, both Linux and Windows.
If you have a photo on your computer you can send it to your mobile, and vice versa, without connecting any cable or FTP servers.
It's not for everybody.