iPhone SMS Basics

Accessing your SMS
The text message application is one of the iPhones standard apps. It's called 'Messages' and you can access it by touching it on your iPhone's app screen. When you touch it, either a list of your text conversations will appear or the dialog from your latest conversation will, depending on what you were viewing when the application was last used. If you have never used the app, your conversation screen will be empty until you send or receive a message.
Viewing your Conversations
Once you have activated the 'Messages' app you can scroll through a list of your SMS conversations sorted in chronological order with the most recent first and listed with the name of the contact or a phone number if there is no other contact information associated with the number. Touch the name or number in the listing to view the conversation. SMS messages sent by you will be displayed in a green bubble and messages sent by the other person will be displayed in a gray one. Drag your thumb downward over the screen to see earlier SMS messages in the conversation and tap the 'Load Earlier Messages' button to view earlier SMS messages once you have scrolled up to that point. Delete individual SMS messages by tapping the 'Edit' button while viewing a conversation, tapping the circle to the left of the message and tapping the 'Delete' button. Remove entire conversations from your list by swiping across the conversation and tapping the 'Delete' key that appears.
Sending Messages
Send a new message to a new recipient by touching the icon at the upper right-hand corner of the screen after the 'Messages' app has been opened. From here you can direct your message to someone in your contacts list by touching the plus sign icon in the 'To' field, by typing in the name of the contact using the keyboard at the bottom of the screen, or by typing in their number using the keyboard. To continue a previously started SMS conversation, tap the conversation on the initial screen and type your message using the keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Touch 'Send' after you have finished composing your SMS message. You can send a single SMS to multiple recipients by adding them in the 'To' field using the plus sign icon, typing the names or typing the numbers.
Using Contacts to Activate Messages
You can also activate the 'Messages' app from your contacts book and have the 'To' field filled out for you by tapping the 'Text Message' button while viewing an entry in the 'Contacts' app.
Keyboard Options
You can tilt your iPhone sideways to activate a wider, landscape-oriented keyboard. Display a numbers and punctuation keyboard by tapping the '.?123' key, and display a symbols keyboard by tapping the '#+=' key shown while the numbers keyboard is displayed.