How to Send SMS Text Messages From an iPad Feb 9, 2021, 8:00 am EDT | 3 min read You need to send an SMS text message to a friend with a cell phone, but all you have is an iPad. Is it possible to send SMS texts from an iPad? The answer is both no and yes, depending on the situation. Here are your options. First, What Is an SMS Text Message? To understand the iPad’s limitations on sending text messages, we first need to define what an SMS text message is. SMS stands for “short message service.” It’s the industry-standard protocol that cell phones use to send text messages to each other. A related technology, MMS (multimedia message service), allows cell phones to send photos and videos to each other through the cell phone network.