“Sent from my iPhone,” “Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone,” and the like. You’ve probably seen these lines on countless messages as more people are staying tethered to their mobile devices and using them to send and respond to messages.

Since the percentage of people with these email-laden devices is increasing, mobile carriers and some device manufacturers are increasing the amount of free marketing that they receive by virtue of the fact that these settings are often the default on devices when they ship. Back when smartphones were the exception, I imagine that people touted their ownership with pride and didn’t mind so much that the default tagline was there for all to see. However, as these devices become more pervasive, default signature lines end up doing nothing except tell the recipient that the person responded while on a smartphone.

That said, I personally use the signature line to help recipients understand that any “interesting” autocorrects that might be found in one of my messages are because I’m using a mobile device. However, rather than keeping the default signature, I’ve changed it to read “Sent from my mobile device – please excuse typos.”  Now, of course, I keep audience in mind. If I’m sending something to someone sensitive, I reread and correct anything I might find — but if I’m just responding to something quick, I’m in a hurry, and the other end just needs an answer and doesn’t care if its pretty, this signature line is a perfect fit.

So, how do you go about modifying or removing the signature line from messages?

iPhone/iPad

On your iOS-based device, go to Settings | Mail, Contacts, Calendars (as shown in Figure A)
Figure A

Next, scroll down the page and locate the “Signature” item and tap it (Figure B).
Figure B

Choose the Signature item

As shown below in Figure C, provide whatever text you’d like to appear when you send a message from the device. It should be noted that the signature is common to every account you have configured on the device. If you have multiple email accounts configured, they all use the same signature.
Figure C

Provide a new signature

Now, the next time you send a message, the recipient will see your new signature.

Android

The steps here will vary, depending on your Android device — but the basic premise is the same. In this example, I’m following the procedure for a Droid X running Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). Go to the Email app, tap the Options button, and choose Messaging settings (Figure D).
Figure D

Choose Messaging settings

On the Messaging settings page, choose the Email option.

Figure E

Choose Email to change your email settings

When you get to the Email settings page, choose the Compose options setting (as shown in Figure F).
Figure F

Choose compose options

Finally, provide an email signature that makes sense for you or simply remove the default one.

Figure G

On the Compose options page, provide your new signature

As I mentioned above, the steps will vary for different Android devices. For example, if you have an HTC Incredible, go to the Mail app and then select the Menu | More | Setting |General Settings | Signature.

Note: A special thanks goes to Rick Vanover for his assistance in getting Android screenshots for this article!

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