Blog Post

iPhone Gets MMS

For all its forward-thinking feature goodness, the iPhone is missing a lot of things that we’ve all come to expect from modern cellphones. On Monday JuiceCaster will plug one of those holes with the release of Flutter, a free picture message service that doesn’t require jail-breaking. It’s not a full-on MMS (multimedia messaging service) for the iPhone, because it routes messages through JuiceCaster’s servers, but for the user it looks like MMS. You open the app, take a photo, pick a contact from your phone address book, geo-tag it, and send it off. About 30 seconds later a message shows up in your friend’s phone inbox with the image or a link to it. The Flutter app is free. It doesn’t support videos yet, because the iPhone doesn’t support video recording (even though it technically can) yet.

37 Responses to “iPhone Gets MMS”

  3. Samuel Herrera

    Sinister1 is correct; if my friends had never told me about this MMS from ifind2.com I swear that I would not be able to receive pics on my i Phone, I know because I bought 5 other apps that could send but only to other phones and I could send to my friends with i Phones but all they would get is errors, I can also use my phone as a modem to surf the web for free.

    September 16, 2009 at 10:48 am
  4. sinister1

    Guys the problem is with AT&T trying to get MMS to work in the U.S. before Sept. 25. They are testing and getting there network ready to handle MMS but there is a long road ahead of head aches with it having bugs and glitches it now looks like it will be this winter before they get it right. You can’t receive MMS on your i Phones because AT&T has port 1010 blocked. That’s why i have been using Send MMS and View MMS from MMS.ifind2.com. Check it out its $1.99 to download each app but you will be able to send and receive MMS to other i phones not just other phones.

    September 16, 2009 at 10:44 am
  5. mcc

    I don’t even receive the view my message links when people send me picture texts anymore. I get absolutely nothing. Then when they ask me why I didn’t respond I have to tell them that my $500 phone doesn’t receive picture texts. Nice. Anyone else stop getting view my message links?

    September 16, 2009 at 8:31 am
  7. sophie

    okay im confused ive got mms on my iphone but when me and my boyfriend try to send them it just comes up with error 12 contact support ? any one know why or who support are ?

    June 10, 2009 at 2:23 pm
  9. what29

    I was in a hurry to get the new beta on my phone but did not want to pay for a developers account and of course i bricked my iphone 2 days ago and was stuck until i found the website that i linked to my name above, just click on my name to go there. They had me up and running in no time and i now have complete access to their Apple developers account with my own user ID and password. It was worth it, just my 2 cents for anyone who is in the same boat i was.

    April 21, 2009 at 7:17 am
  11. Kyle S.

    I really don’t see the advantage here if it doesn’t actually send an MMS. While it might provide a more intuitive interface for iPhone users to send pictures between iPhones, it seems like it does little to connect iPhone users with non-smartphone users who do not have a data plan, but do have an SMS/MMS plan.

    January 23, 2009 at 8:24 pm
  13. Jay W.

    Flutter is basically useless when sending messages to people without Web access on their phones (like most of the people I know). They would have to drive home, get on their computer, and type in the link to view the pic. Yeah right! SwirlyMMS requires that you convince AT&T to give you an MMS package for your iPhone. I’ve talked to them many, many times about this (begging/pleading), and they have so far REFUSED to do this. They insist that they will NOT activate an MMS plan for anyone with an iPhone — for any price. Here is a QUOTE from one of the many replies that I got from AT&T on this subject:

    “Your current message package is indeed the iPhone unlimited message package for $20 per month on each line. It is available specifically for iPhones as it will allow you to send and receive text messages while still receiving the “viewmymessage” notification when you do receive a multimedia message. These message packages will not allow multimedia messaging even if you use your SIM in a different device. Individual message packages which allow multimedia messages are not able to be added to iPhone lines with the exception of the unlimited message for families package for $30 per month. If you add the unlimited message for families package, you will no longer receive the “viewmymessage” notification when you receive a multimedia message. The multimedia message will also not be delivered to your iPhone as we do not support multimedia messaging on the iPhone. We appreciate your understanding.”

    So I guess iPhone users are out of luck for MMS (except the few who have apparently convinced AT&T to give them an MMS package). I’m looking for some kind of third-party solution now.

    November 19, 2008 at 10:49 am
  16. Mark

    It’s so funny, in every post I see about the iPhone and MMS, there is always one person who is BLIND and things MMS is not needed because they don’t get it or refuse to. Personally, I don’t carry a regular camera on me, so having one on my phone is great. Snap a picture and send it to who I want. Like just a few weeks ago, i was in the bet store, buying food for my dog. There was this beautiful bird there. So, I snapped a picture of it on my TILT and sent it to my g/f. She got it 2 seconds later. This is just one small example of a LIST that is large and growing. I was on the fence about buying an iPhone, but I don’t think I am going to now. Here are the other missing, but almost standard on every other phone on the marked:

    BLUE TOOTH Stereo
    BLUE TOOTH file transfire
    BLUE TOOTH Syncing
    BLUT TOOTH Pairing w/ other non-headset devices
    Video Capture
    MMS (already stated)
    Battery Life SUCKS

    These are a few, some, DEAL breakers for me. Who knows, rumors have it that APPLE is working on the next phone already G4, maybe they will add some or all of these features to it….who knows.

    September 26, 2008 at 9:33 pm
  18. jenn

    mms is never going to be dead! In fact for a lot of people it’s a dealbreaker. It’s so convient to send picture mail when you do not know who has email or not. You just type in the number and send. Apple has lost a lot of potential consumers without this feature.

    September 18, 2008 at 6:29 pm
  20. bud

    If it was received as an MMS by phones that receive MMS, it might mean something.

    As it is, it sends an SMS just like the SMS messages the iPhone receives when someone tries to send an MMS to the iPhone.

    If there is an extra step to view, it doesn’t get viewed, on my phone. I doubt it would be better on another phone.

    By the way, I think it is a mistaken notion, not that that notion is supported here at all, a mistaken notion that MMS missing from the iPhone is a iPhone technical problem. Every phone I have had that does MMS, requires a Telco hosted email address to act as storage and conduit for those MMS messages. I do not know, but I suspect, supporting the MMS protocol across different carriers entails more back side bartering that the telcos might prefer getting away from (in the way that bandwidth costs become free by swapping the bandwidth) This is a wild ass guess as to what happens, but it does not get much discussion.

    That is, MMS is very much like mail in some ways, with mailmen that read your mail, but want to stop bring the mail to your door because it is too far to walk. Send a picture via the web, or email, and you avoid the middleman, who might want to price gouge you for the privelege of a stamp.

    September 15, 2008 at 11:46 pm
  23. Klip

    Holly – problem being, the recipient does not receive the pic on their phone. They receive a link… just like when someone sends you a pic to your iPhone. You are directed to a link to view the pic… which isn’t even a hyperlink. You have to manually type in the web address and manually type in the MMS code. So backwards. UGH

    September 15, 2008 at 11:57 am
  25. iDavid

    And this is different than taking a photo with the iPhone and emailing it to someone using the built in mail feature in photo gallery how?

    Isn’t MMS more about sending photos to someone’s phone number?

    September 15, 2008 at 10:38 am
  27. D9

    “Looks like Folks @ gigaom are getting infected by ARF (Apple reality Distortion Field) …”

    Ooooo….that didn’t really work very well! Perhaps APE (ApPle reality distortion fiEld) or maybe LEAD (appLe rEAlity Distortion field), or even PETITE (aPple rEaliTy dIstorTion fiEld).

    Give those a shot, my angst-ridden friend!

    September 15, 2008 at 10:09 am