Do you remember the days when all you had was a rotary phone and one line per house? Maybe not, but you may remember the days where there was a house digital phone.

Feb 16, 2012 - Apple's made a public beta available of Messages for Mac available to. Send unlimited iMessages to any Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. But, before you can start enjoying all Messages has to offer, you can either wait for the release of OS X 10.8, or download the beta release of the software to your Mac running OS X Lion 10.7 now.

However, you were lucky if your house had multiple lines so you could chat with your friends while your parents could leave a line open. It’s incredible to think how far technology has changed in the past 10-15 years. These days there are a multitude of communication devices and options on your iPhone, Android, Mac or PC.

Likely one of the most widely used forms of communication is text messaging or SMS. This communication feature is so prevalent that Apple even enabled iMessage directly from your Macbook Pro or Macbook Air with a simple download and software update. Apple has even gone as far as to enable the ability to send regular text messages through your Mac computer without ever opening up your iPhone. Below I will walk you through the various options and features of iMessage, along with how to download it to your Macbook Pro if you don’t already have it. “ Likewise, there is no evidence that texting teaches people to spell badly: rather, research shows that those kids who text frequently are more likely to be the most literate and the best spellers, because you have to know how to manipulate language.” – David Crystal What is iMessage?

You may have heard about iMessage but not be exactly clear on what it is and why it can be helpful to you during your daily life. Basically, iMessage is Apple’s way of extending text messages to their line of Mac computers and iPads.

It’s not a well known fact, but you don’t need an iPhone in order to use iMessage; all you must have is an Apple ID. Basically you have it as soon as you sign up for an Apple ID. You will notice that when you go to text other people with an iPhone the boxes will turn from green to blue. That means you’re texting over iMessage.

The great thing about this is that these texts are not part of your regular text message package that you buy from your carrier like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. These blue texts are sent and received directly through your local WiFi connection or your phone’s cellular data. That way, you will never go over your texting limit by using this option. Because the messages are sent directly over WiFi, Apple has built this into their Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro line of computers. After you set up iMessage, it will automatically send the messages you receive and send to both your phone and your computer. I’ll go into more detail below on how to setup iMessage, some of the features, and limitations of this technology. IMessage For Macbook Check So, you’re obviously on this page because you want to get iMessage onto your Macbook laptop.

The fact is, Apple preprograms the iMessage app onto each of their computers, and it comes automatically installed with a new operating system. Therefore, there’s a chance you already have the app on your Macbook and you just don’t realize it. Try these options to see whether it’s on your laptop hidden somewhere. • Search in Spotlight: Spotlight is the system search tool native to all Apple devices. One way to do a quick Spotlight search is to press the command+space bar keys at the same time.

This will bring up a search bar and simply type in “iMessage” into the bar. If you already have the app installed, you will see something similar to the screenshot below. Simply hit enter and it will open iMessage and you can get started using it.

Note: Another way to do a spotlight search is to click on the search glass icon at the top right of your Mac screen. • Use Gestures: The second way I suggest searching for whether you have iMessage is to use a gesture. Take your entire hand and hover over the Macbook trackpad and without clicking swipe all of your fingers in to a point. This should bring up a screen where all of your installed apps are shown.

Try to find the app. Best architecture software for mac. If it doesn’t show up, you likely don’t have it downloaded and installed. How To Download iMessage As I stated above, iMessage is preloaded onto every Mac computer so you shouldn’t have to download it. If you deleted it on accident then there are a few options for reinstating the app. I’ll work my way from easiest to most time consuming options.

Restore iMessage From Backup The easiest and least time consuming way to get iMessage back is to restore it from a Time Machine backup. This requires that you have previously backed up your Macbook Air or Pro to an external hard drive. If you did, most likely you used Time Machine, which is Apple’s built in backup app. The great thing about the app is that it backs up everything on your computer, including the apps. To restore the app, follow these steps. • Connect the external hard drive that you used to back up to your Macbook.