> Nitpick, but I can text from my Mac laptop using the messages app. I haven't looked into exactly how exactly it works but I think it's somehow proxying/mirror

> Nitpick, but I can text from my Mac laptop using the messages app. I haven't looked into exactly how exactly it works but I think it's somehow proxying/mirroring the messages through my iPhone. It's very smooth and "just works" though. Yes, SMS from iMessage on your non-iPhone (Mac, iPad) proxy through your iPhone. iMessages do not require your phone to be on, since Apple can deliver it directly without using SMS. However, without a phone you cannot send an SMS message, and most people use phone numbers as contacts in iMessage, which requires an SMS based registration done transparently by your phone. But all of this is just the technicals of how it works, to the end users it is just texting. The only reason non-technical users are even aware of, or care about, the distinction is because of how iMessage breaks group texting as soon as there's a non-iMessage user involved.