How to iMessage someone out of country?

I live in the us and my friend likes in uk, I have an iPhone 4 and he has an iPhone 5 therefore we both have iMessage but every time we try to iMessage each other, it shows up as a text message, how do I get it to send as an iMessage so i'm not charged?

Use the textfree app! You can message anyone out of the country using a number and identity that you choose. It's 100% free. They don't have to be Apple users, either!

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