Re: Why Do My Emoji's Show Up As a "Multimedia Message" When I Send Them To People? (Galaxy S4)?
My brother has an android and I sent him an Emoji from my Galaxy S4 (he has the HTC Amaze) and no square or question mark showed up on his phone.. My message showed up but not the emoji. The text showed up with something saying "no subject" on the top as if I was sending him a file or something.
That's because you did. Emojis are little files. Which is why SMS (which is based on the expanded [= 255] ASCii character set) can't handle them and MMS is required. That
and KitKat or higher to make them visible!
But if you and your contacts have smartphones, why not use Instant Messaging instead of SMS and MMS? Which have all sorts of limitations, as you found out, and which always send your messages as mobile data over mobile networks, even when you think you're on WiFi. That eats into your monthly 'dataplan' if you have one. Sending and receiving graphics, a.k.a. media (pictures, videos), and audio via MMS can be an expensive hobby. Because they are usually big files.
There are at least scores of Instant Messaging apps without those expensive effects, limitations and complications, afaik.
Currently (as this could change next week, obviously) I recommend these, in order:
Telegram
Viber
Kik
Tango
LINE
They are all free in the Play Store.
Each is a bit different. Viber, Tango, and LINE also offer free 'VoIP' audio and video calls.
Each is used by hundreds of millions of users.
I use Telegram and Viber. Between them they cover all my possible needs. And
much more. And I have the other 3 as backup apps. All 5 are installed and tested.
I specifically do not recommend WhatsApp as it 1) isn't free, and 2) is now, since 2 weeks ago, owned by an outfit – Facebook – that is founded on the principle of making money out of publishing as much personal information about people as possible. With the 19
billion bucks acquisition of WhatsApp they now have a treasure trove of personal information of around 400 million people, WhatsApp users, at their fingertips. Of course Facebook has issued statements that they'll never use personal information for commercial gain, and that they don't plan on integrating the two operations (and their data sources) but will keep them separate.
Yeah, right!
That's like trusting the wolf to guard the hen house.
After all, those 19 billion bucks must be recuperated, no?
With a very liberal topping of whipped profit cream, please.