"Can we message customers on iMessage?" has two correct answers, and they describe different products. One is Apple Messages for Business, Apple's own service, where the customer opens the conversation. The other is sending blue-bubble iMessages from a business line, where the business can text first. They look similar on an iPhone, but they work differently, cost different amounts and fit different jobs.
This post explains each one, compares them with regular SMS, and covers how Ready's blue line works, including the price, the daily limits, and the cases where plain green texts are still the better choice.
Apple Messages for Business: the customer starts the chat
Apple Messages for Business is Apple's customer-service chat channel. A customer taps a "Message" button in Apple Maps, Safari, Spotlight search or on your website, and a conversation opens in their Messages app with your verified brand name and logo at the top.
Some details that matter:
- The business cannot start the conversation. It replies to customers who reach out first. You cannot use it to send a shipping update or an appointment reminder to someone who hasn't messaged you.
- You go through Apple and a messaging service provider. You register your brand with Apple, and the conversations run through an approved provider's agent console.
- It is iPhone, iPad and Mac only. Android customers never see the button.
- It has rich features. Built-in options include list pickers, time pickers and Apple Pay inside the chat.
It suits inbound support at scale, such as an airline or a retailer with a large support team. It is not a way to send outbound texts. The setup steps and provider options are covered in Apple Messages for Business: setup, requirements, pricing and providers.
Blue-bubble texting: a business line that sends iMessage
The second answer is a business number that sends real iMessages, which show up blue on the recipient's iPhone. At Ready we call this a blue line. Texts appear blue with the business's name and photo, and the line can text first, which Apple Messages for Business cannot do.
From the recipient's side, it looks like a normal iMessage conversation. From the business side, replies, reactions, typing indicators and group chats land in the same inbox thread as your SMS conversations, so your team works from one inbox instead of two.
There is also a regulatory difference. A blue line doesn't need 10DLC registration. Regular business SMS in the US has to be registered with carriers (brand plus campaign; see what is 10DLC), and most approvals take 2 to 7 days. A blue line can start texting as soon as it is set up.
Skipping 10DLC doesn't skip consent. Text people who agreed to hear from you or who contacted you first. TCPA exposure doesn't depend on the bubble color, and compliance is always the sender's responsibility.
Side by side: Apple Messages for Business, blue line and SMS
| Apple Messages for Business | Ready blue line | Regular SMS (10DLC) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who can start the chat | Customer only | Business or customer | Business or customer |
| Shows on iPhone as | Blue, verified brand header | Blue, business name and photo | Green |
| Reaches Android | No | Yes, from your regular number as SMS | Yes |
| 10DLC registration | Not applicable | Not needed | Required |
| Price on Ready | Not offered | $99/mo per line + $0.06/segment sent or received | $0.0075/segment + $0.0045 carrier fee |
| New conversations per day | Customer-driven | Up to 50 per line | Set by carrier caps |
| Bulk campaigns and drip campaigns | No | No, these send from regular numbers | Yes |
The table shows the main tradeoff. A blue line is a channel for one-to-one conversations. It is not a channel for mass sending.
How Ready's blue line works
Pricing
A blue line costs $99 a month per line, plus 6 cents a segment for each text you send. A reply to a blue line is also 6 cents a segment, and reactions are free. Texts to Android phones go from your account's regular number. If you already had a number they bill at the regular text price; if the blue line came with its green number, they bill at 6 cents a segment once you register. If your account has no regular number, the blue line comes with one.
The limits, which you should plan around
- Unlimited texting with people you already talk to. Ongoing conversations are not capped.
- Up to 50 new conversations per line per day. This is the number to size against.
- Up to 2 texts to someone until they reply. You can't send repeated follow-ups to someone who hasn't answered.
- Photos only after they reply. Your first message has to be text.
- Campaigns and drip campaigns don't use the blue line. They send from regular numbers.
If you need more than 50 new people a day, add another line. The "Add lines automatically" setting can add one when the day's new conversations run out.
Fifty a day works out to roughly 1,500 new conversations a month per line over 30 days. That is plenty for a sales rep or a small support desk. A peak-season ecommerce inbox may need more; sizing blue lines for an ecommerce support inbox walks through that math.
For platforms: the API
If you run a CRM or vertical SaaS product and want your customers to send blue texts from inside your app, the blue line is available through the API as well as the dashboard. The request details are in the blue line API docs, and the product guide is at docs.tryready.com/guides/imessage. For a wider look at building this into a product, see iMessage API for business.
Worked example: what a month costs
Assumptions (illustrative, not a benchmark): a home-services company runs one blue line. In a month it sends 900 segments to iPhone users and receives 500 reply segments from them. It also sends 400 segments to Android users, which go out over its regular number as SMS.
Blue line portion:
- Line fee: $99
- Sent and received iMessage segments: (900 + 500) × $0.06 = 1,400 × $0.06 = $84
- Subtotal: $183
Android portion (SMS on the regular number):
- 400 × $0.0075 = $3, plus the $0.0045 carrier fee on each of those 400 segments
- Replies from Android users are billed the same way as sent texts
That regular number follows normal SMS rules. It needs 10DLC registration, which has no setup fee: you pay the first month ($25) at submit, and the monthly cost after that is $25/mo for registration and $2 per number. An unregistered account can still send up to 500 texts a month.
To be honest about the numbers: a blue text costs more per segment than a green one, and the line has a fixed monthly fee. If your messages are one-way alerts that nobody replies to, the extra cost buys you little. The case for blue is conversations: a recognizable sender with a name and photo, in the thread where people already text their friends. Teams turn it on because a blue text from a known name is easier to trust. We won't quote you a reply-rate lift, because that depends heavily on your list and your message.
Which one should you use?
Use Apple Messages for Business if you want an inbound support channel on Apple devices, you have the support team to staff it, and you don't need to start conversations. Ready doesn't offer it. If that is what you need, an Apple-approved messaging service provider is the right path.
Use a blue line if your team has one-to-one conversations with customers or leads who agreed to hear from you: sales follow-up, appointment back-and-forth, quotes or support replies. It also helps if you need to start texting before 10DLC registration clears.
Use regular SMS if you send campaigns, drip campaigns or high-volume notifications, or if most of your audience uses Android. SMS reaches every phone, costs less per segment, and is the only one of the three built for bulk sending. Ready's blue line includes SMS for this reason: Android contacts automatically get green texts from your regular number.
Many businesses run both. SMS handles campaigns and alerts, and the blue line handles conversations that matter. Because both land in the same inbox thread, your team doesn't have to manage two channels. For a closer look at the "can it text first" question, see iMessage for business vs Apple Messages for Business.
The practical takeaway
"iMessage for business" usually means one of two things. Apple Messages for Business is a customer-initiated support chat run through Apple and a provider. A blue line is a business number that sends real iMessages, can text first, and needs no 10DLC registration. On Ready, a blue line is $99/mo per line plus 6 cents a segment. Each line can start 50 new conversations a day, and Android contacts fall back to your regular number as SMS: $0.0075/segment plus the $0.0045 carrier fee if you already had a number, or 6 cents a segment once you register if the blue line came with its green number.
If you're unsure which fits, list what you send in a typical week. Conversations point to a blue line, campaigns point to SMS, and inbound-only support points to Apple's service. When you're ready to try a blue line, you can create an account and set one up from the dashboard, or read the blue line guide first.