Friend with Android phone and Mac computer defaults to iMessage in Messages

Question

I have a friend who uses an Android mobile phone and also a Mac. My iPhone contact page for him shows a FaceTime icon which I suppose is correct because it would go to the Mac when available but if I choose the speech bubble next to his phone number my iPhone goes to Messages and shows "iMessage" in the empty box. There's no speech bubble next to his email.
The messages that I send him are delivered succesfully via iMessage (blue bg) but how can I explicitly send him a regular text (sms) message to make sure that it's delivered to the Android phone and not to the Mac? I'm using iOS 9.3
Please note that I don't want to disable iMessage altogether.

Thanks

Answer 1

This is an old thread, but I found it while trying to solve this myself...

The only way I have found to work around this is:

1. Open iMessage
2. Start typing the contact's name
3. When the iPhone displays the contact you want, tap the ">" icon on right of the name.
4. The iPhone will drop down and show all of the contact options.
5. Tap the contact's phone number to select the delivery method.
6. Carry on as you normally would typing and sending the message.

Answer 2

The only way to be sure the message is being sent to his Android is to use a 3rd-party text service like Viber. These services are designed to be device agnostic and are good solutions for people looking for cross-device (android to iphone, for example) communication. They can also tell you when messages are delivered and if they are read by the recipient.