Not everybody uses WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, and there are some instances where a good old SMS message is still preferred. SMS has been the gold standard for text messaging for a long time. It is quick, easy to do, and it does not require you pausing what you are doing like phone calls do. Most cell phone plans just give them away in unlimited capacities these days and it is dead easy to use. As such, there are plenty of apps that can send and receive SMS and MMS messages.
However, the native text messaging app that comes with Android is laid out poorly. Thankfully we have the option to use one of many, many third-party SMS clients — some of which are minimal messaging apps, and others that offer features above and beyond the rest. To help you choose the best SMS app, we have compiled a list of 7 Best SMS Or Text Messaging Apps For Android.
1. Chomp SMS
Chomp SMS is among the more popular text messaging apps available on the Play Store and excels when it comes to customization options. Currently, it has over 10 million active users that define its potential. From diversified emojis to the customization of UI, everything is packed with Chomp. The compatibility with the services like Mighty Text, Pushbullet helps you to push the content to your desktop or laptop.
You can choose from hundreds of free themes to personalize your messaging experience and some of the features include scheduled SMS sending, group MMS, delayed messages, pinning favorite conversations to the top, blocking certain numbers and sending quick replies.
If you are willing to send either good morning text messages or good night, then you can schedule the messages as well. The profusion number of features involving, inbuilt app locker, scheduling text messages, backup and restore, canceling the sending messages, blacklisting contacts, digital signature, favorites and much more.
You can also customize your SMS notifications according to your contacts by setting up vibration patterns and LED colors for alerts. Chomp SMS also works with Android Wear, brings over 1,600 emojis and is free to download. Needless to say, Chomp is the hands down the messaging application to reintegrate texting into your life.
2. Pulse SMS
Pulse SMS is an interesting and very, very customizable text messaging app in its own right, but that is not the real draw for Pulse. It is like any standard SMS app for the most part. However, there is also a back-end that will let you text from your PC, tablet, and other devices.
For users who are chained to a computer all day anyway, Pulse helps you avoid tearing your eyes away from your big, productive screen to your phone, where it is easy to be distracted by notifications that new series are on Netflix, and your lives are refilled on that game you are about to level up on. Additionally, it also supports dual-SIM devices, blacklisting phone numbers, message backup, and more.
The texting app part of this is completely free. Those who want to also text from PCs, tablets, etc can either pay $0.99 per month or a lifetime fee of $10.99. It is a good way to kill two birds with one stone.
3. Textra
Textra SMS is a very popular and highly rated SMS app, which brings a great combination of features and performance. The SMS app looks great, thanks to some very cool Material Design implementation. Along with the beautiful transitions, the app lets you customize its look totally with the ability to shuffle between dark and light mode, theme colors, app icon color, text styles and more. It supports intuitive gestures to delete a conversation or call someone directly from the app.
Textra SMS also brings some unique notification features like floating notifications, an ability to quick reply to notifications, change LED color, vibrate patterns etc.. Other features include Quick Compose, Blacklists, Signatures, Android Wear support, emojis, video compression and more. To sum things up, Textra SMS is for people looking for a fast and sleek looking SMS app. The app looks beautiful and in our testing, we found it to be very responsive. Along with the responsive performance, the gestures and notification features make it worth a try!
4. Handcent Next SMS
Handcent SMS has been an excellent stock messaging replacement app with a ton of features fans love. Now the app has received a major update and is even better. Apart from hundreds of skins and themes available for free, you can send free texts online to your contacts who also have Handcent SMS installed.
Moreover, the Handcent Anywhere feature allows you to save your contacts to the cloud and send text messages from your computer or tablet.
Contact based notification customizations are also available along with a complete backup option for all your text messages. For those of you who are concerned about private texts, the app has a Private Box, which is a restricted area only accessible via a password.
Handcent Talk is another feature allowing you to talk to your Handcent friends for free. The usual scheduled SMS, group MMS, and Emoji icons are also present and the app supports vCards and multiple languages as well.
5. QKSMS
QKSMSÂ is cute and best text messaging app that is powerful enough to handle your daily messaging chores. With its fluid interface, stunning design and vivid color QKSMS going to attract everyone who installs.
The developers behind it are very dedicated and are constantly working to improve the app which they say will never push ads, ever, and is fully open source. Features in the free version include themes, night mode, quick reply and group messaging.
If you pay $1.99, you can unlock the premium access to get the dozens of themes and automatic night mode switching according to the time of the day. If you were looking for the open source code text messaging app, then QKSMS would be the way to go.
6. Go SMS Pro
If you own an Android device you must have come across an app or two by the GO Dev Team. Just like their keyboard, launcher and browser apps, they also have a great text messaging app called GO SMS Pro.
Like its peers, the app supports a lot of customization options courtesy themes and stickers which are updated regularly and has some staple features like a Private Box for personal messages, free online text messaging with GO chat, sticky conversation, and quick reply popups.
You can also block unwanted numbers from sending you texts and the app work well with dual-SIM phones which are also becoming increasingly common. Delayed sending and cloud backup of all texts are also supported and the app, like others, is free.
7. Android Messages
Most people know about Google Hangouts which also supports text messaging, but few are aware that Google has a dedicated texting app for Android called Android Messages. Android Messages is a free texting app by Google.
In terms of features, Android Messages keeps it light. You will have some light theming options, some organization and backup features, and a decent search function. The design is entirely Material Design. That means it looks good and it is easy to use.
There are a few extra features such as text search, SMS blocking, location sharing, and audio messages. You can send SMS and MMS messages with media files to your whole group of friends and search through your existing conversations for specific texts. The app also supports emoji icons, message archiving and blocking SMS senders you do not want to receive texts from.
It is a well-rounded app that looks good. It is also totally free. Additionally, the app can be a little slow. Otherwise, it is probably the best of the free texting apps.
Conclusion
We do agree to the fact that SMS is no longer as popular as it was before but there are people who still use it and to them, these SMS apps can come very handy. These apps certainly make texting over SMS way more interesting. Do give them a try and these apps might surprise you pleasantly. Do leave your comments below. We would love to hear your suggestions and opinions on these and any other texting apps you think that deserves a mention.
See Also
- 5 Best Messenger Apps For Android And iOS
- 7 Best Android Web Browsers
- 6 Free Automation Apps To Automate Tasks On Your Android Phone
