Imessage and texting on iphone 5s?

Okay so I have LIMITED data. Even better I share it with my cousin… Yeah it sucks.

SO PROBLEM! : I have other friends who have iphones and they use imessage a lot. And when I turn imessage off on my phone I can't receive anything from them…

I don't want to turn it one because this chicka needs to save her data! But when I turn it ON I can only send them messages threw the whole imessage thing.

SO MY QUESTION! : is there a way to set it where I can have it on just to get their messages and NOT have to text them back with imessage?

I had an issue with this with a lady I almost worked for and she wanted to be able to text me and I never got anything from here.____. Prefer to avoid that problem as much as possible. But if I ever run out of data (which is likely because its a small plan) i don't know what to do.

Lol you don't need to turn off iMessage if you don't want to reply and use data then don't reply and it won't use data.

If they have an iphone if you turn off data it should send as text message. If they have ipod/ipad you do need internet