Best free SMS app for Android

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arlen holder

2019-02-15 20:12:48 UTC

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1. QK SMS
2. Pulse SMS
3. Textra SMS
4. Handcent NextSMS

>

Likewise, if you want to forward entire conversations, use another:
<Loading Image...

>

But, perhaps, if you want to "view media", you use another app:
<Loading Image...

>

The point is that there is a Venn Diagram with a great amount of overlap,
but also an appreciable amount of non overlapping features in these four
free SMS/MMS apps - and - it's so trivially easy to switch between them ad
hoc, that I'd suggest you load all four, and then simply use the one that
you need at the current moment in time.

o Pulse SMS
<https://messenger.klinkerapps.com/overview/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>

o QK SMS
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS>

o Textra SMS
<https://www.textra.me/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra>

o Handcent NextSMS
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handcent.app.nextsms>

Any other suggestions that we haven't already tried and deleted?

arlen holder

2019-02-26 16:03:38 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder
o Pulse SMS
<https://messenger.klinkerapps.com/overview/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>
o QK SMS
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS>
o Textra SMS
<https://www.textra.me/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra>
o Handcent NextSMS
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handcent.app.nextsms>

UPDATE:

Knock out Textra SMS.
o It's really nice, but the ads _just_ now started coming; so it's out.

I've been using Textra SMS for a while now, where ads just started.
o What Textra SMS seems to do is make the first "conversation" an ad.

Also knock out Next SMS which puts an ad on the bottom.

That leaves these two as decent ad free SMS apps, so far:
o Pulse SMS
<https://messenger.klinkerapps.com/overview/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>

o QK SMS
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS>

Big Al

2019-02-26 16:14:43 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder

Knock out Textra SMS.
o It's really nice, but the ads _just_ now started coming; so it's out.
I've been using Textra SMS for a while now, where ads just started.
o What Textra SMS seems to do is make the first "conversation" an ad.
Also knock out Next SMS which puts an ad on the bottom.
o Pulse SMS
<https://messenger.klinkerapps.com/overview/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>
o QK SMS
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS>

What happened to 4. Handcent NextSMS ??

Also, by group messages, do you mean send same message to multiple
contacts? I can't do that but I can receive my copy of one group
message but I can't reply to it, only the sender as it treats the sms as
a single contact sms.

Al

arlen holder

2019-02-27 18:23:38 UTC

Permalink

Post by Big Al
What happened to 4. Handcent NextSMS ??

It's gone.
The "NextSMS", as I recall, is the same as "Handcent NextSMS"
(it shows up differently depending on how you look at it, as I recall).

I have a very thin skin when it comes to obnoxious ads in free apps.

Bear in mind I have a system where I load a ton of apps into a test folder
specific for that test, as I test them over time, where I _only_ delete
apps in my "testcase" folder when they bother the shit out of me, where I
have a very thin skin for obnoxious ads, so I think it was the obnoxious
ads that killed it (as I recall).

There are only 2 SMS apps I didn't delete in angry frustration in my tests:
o Pulse SMS
o QKSMS

Post by Big Al
Also, by group messages, do you mean send same message to multiple
contacts?

Yes.

Some of the apps I tested made it _hard_ to "choose" multiple contacts,
where I'm currently testing Pulse SMS which makes it _easy_ to add multiple
contacts, and, more importantly, it makes it easy to _see_ who the multiple
contacts are, since they don't always fit on a single line so they're
truncated in the actual message conversation view.

Pulse SMS makes it _easy_ to see who the group recipients are:
<Loading Image...

Post by Big Al
I can't do that but I can receive my copy of one group
message but I can't reply to it, only the sender as it treats the sms as
a single contact sms.

There are _two_ different modes in _all_ the MMS apps I tested.
o By default, they generally send one MMS to every group member
o But they have a setting to _split_ the message individually

If you send the message as a _group_ message, then the reply from any one
person goes to the whole group (depending on _their_ settings, of course).

Then when you reply to _that_ message, it _still_ goes to the whole group.

However, if you flip the switch to break the group MMS into _individual_
messages, then everything is treated as an individual message that you send
with only one click.

At least that's how it appears to work in my tests.......

Fritz Wuehler

2019-02-28 23:15:26 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder

Everyone seems to be ignoring the simplest and the best. Silence.

https://silence.im/

Warrant canary
A signed warrant canary is published every two months to ensure
that Silence has not been compromised by any third-party using a
subpoena. You can download the warrant and the PGP key (fingerprint
2684 ECEF 6076 1A5B 259F 45CC 878D 6D09 1EDE 0989).

arlen holder

2019-03-01 01:14:43 UTC

Permalink

Post by Fritz Wuehler
https://silence.im/

Just FYI, since most Android users download from Google Play,
there are a _lot_ of "things" named "Silence" on Google Play.

For example:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexanderbaulin.silence>

According to your URL, the Google Play URL to "Silence" SMS seems to be:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>

The GitHub seems to be:
<https://github.com/SilenceIM/Silence/>

And, the home page, as you noted, is:
<https://silence.im>

The odd thing is that this URL exists on Windows:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>

But when I go there on my phone, the app doesn't exist.
o Nor can my phone find the app in Google Play

Why?

Mike Easter

2019-03-01 03:08:56 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>
But when I go there on my phone, the app doesn't exist.
o Nor can my phone find the app in Google Play
Why?

Maybe it has to do with your VPN IP business between your two platforms.

A USian IP clicking on the googleplay link at silence.im shows this alert:

"Warning - For trademark reasons, Silence is currently not available on
Play Store in the U.S., but you can still download Silence in the U.S.
from F-Droid, a repository of Free and Open Source (FOSS) apps on the
Android platform supported by the Free Software Foundation (FSF)."

... and then the alert that says 'continue to play store' says that link
isn't available at googleplay.

So, a USian abiding by/ avoiding/ trademark infringement would go to the
foss fdroid at https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure/

--
Mike Easter

arlen holder

2019-03-01 04:40:25 UTC

Permalink

Post by Mike Easter
So, a USian abiding by/ avoiding/ trademark infringement would go to the
foss fdroid at https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure/

Thanks Mike for digging into the oddity I saw when trying to "see" this
particular app on Google Play on my phone, or even in a web browser on my
phone (in both cases, it didn't exist even though on my desktop, the Google
Play link did exist - but in each case, I _was_ on VPN, as you noted, where
I have no idea what country I was coming from since I randomly use any of
over six thousand free VPN configuration files at any given moment).

Fritz Wuehler probably was aware of these oddities when he posted the link
to https://silence.im, which is an 'odd link' for most of us, since the
average user is used to links like Google Play for general purpose use.

I will test this "Silence encrypted SMS" version 0.15.13 to see if it's
worthy of being on the short list in my test folder, which, currently, only
includes:
o Pulse SMS
o QK SMS
And now...
o Silence (formerly SMSSecure)

"Silence" seems to have a few "privacy" related options, such as:
o Lock === the app won't open without the passphrase if you press this
o Screen security === Block screenshots
o Incognito keyboard === Keyboard won't remember what you type
o Enable passphrase === local encryption
o Timeout === require passphrase after a given time
o Auto-retrieve === Automatically retrieve MMS messages
o Backup === you can apparently store/retrieve an encrypted backup

One interesting "Silence" option that I'm unsure of how to set (given I use
WiFi calling all the time, and that I do MMS over WiFi all the time) is...
o WiFi Calling compatibility mode === Enable if your device uses SMS/MMS
delivery over Wi-Fi (only enable when WiFi callding is enabled on your
device.

The only nasty thing I see immediately is that there doesn't seem to be any
setting to set the default outgoing MMS size (where I send a _lot_ of
pictures, which I don't want to send at 8GB each, but at about 300KB each).

Here's the collection of links for the general user to benefit from:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>
<https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure/>
<https://silence.im>
<https://github.com/SilenceIM/Silence/>

arlen holder

2019-03-01 05:11:57 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>
But when I go there on my phone, the app doesn't exist.
o Nor can my phone find the app in Google Play

Being curious...
I just again tested the Google Play link, and Mike is completely correct.
o Weird things happen depending on _how_ & _where_ as explained below.

Thanks to Mike for figuring this out, as it didn't occur to me that the
oddities I saw were simply because different things happen depending on
_how_ you access the Google Play link, and from where your IP address
geolocates from (for a total of four possibly different results).

DIRECT:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure.smssecure>
o If I am on a USA VPN, then the direct Google Play link comes up blank
o Using a non-USA VPN, then the direct Google Play link works just fine

REDIRECT:
If I click on the https://silence.im/ web page Google Play redirect button
o If I'm on a USA VPN, the message Mike explained _does_ come up
o If I'm on a non-USA VPN, it takes me directly to the app on Google Play

These oddities are almost certainly why a "silence.im" link was provided by
o Fritz Wuehler <***@spamexpire-201902.rodent.frell.theremailer.net> dizum
o From: Nomen Nescio <***@dizum.com> dizum
o From: "generic.poster" <***@spamexpire-201902.rodent.frell.theremailer.net> dizum

BTW, it's an "ok" app, where its claim to fame is obviously encryption.
o The comments say it handles dual SIMs nicely
o Comments say it can't schedule a message
o Comments say it's can't do a group SMS
o I noticed it doesn't have a "pin to top" of conversations
etc.

It appears you have to _manually_ press the "Start secure session" button,
which seems to tell you whether the person is using the same app on the
other side.

I sent a test MMS to someone where it blacked out the top half of the
photo, which is an interesting if extremely rudimentary "obfuscation"
technique.

I've only had it on the phone for a few minutes, where it seems that it's a
nice app if the other person is using the same app, since then everything
is encrypted without having an encryption server in between.

Bear in mind it doesn't seem to have some of the basic "bells and whistles"
you might want such as automatic outgoing MMS shrink & SMS scheduling,
etc., but I'll test it for a few days to get the hang of it to know more.

arlen holder

2019-03-01 15:30:22 UTC

Permalink

Post by Fritz Wuehler
Everyone seems to be ignoring the simplest and the best. Silence.
https://silence.im/

I've only tested "Silence" (formerly SMSSecure) overnight
where I have some additional quick observations below...

1. The "import" of old messages doesn't appear to import MMS photos.
Hence, switching between Silence & other SMS apps _loses_ messages
because the text associated with the MMS message is _also_ lost.

2. What a normal recipient "sees" during encryption requests is "gibberish"
Hence, you must _explain_ what you're sending them, so it's not seamless.

3. There is an deadly bug that affected the Android square "clear all".

When you press the default Android "Clear All" (square) button, a strange
screen comes up almost every time which seems to be the "send to" sharing
screen, which is very strange because it doesn't belong there, but I
reproduced it multiple times by uninstalling and reinstalling Silence, so
it's reproduceable on my Nougat LG Stylo 3 Plus phone.

Basically, it makes that all-important Android "Clear All" useless.
So it's a critical bug, IMHO.

In all cases above, I _reproduced_ the problem by installing and
uninstalling Silence, and by switching between Pulse SMS and Silence as the
default SMS app (since only 1 can be the default) a couple of times.

Hence, I can't reasonably recommend silence as "the best".
o It may simply be the most secure (and even then, I didn't test security).

Here's my recommendation based on short tests, of the 3 that are left:
1. Pulse SMS (the best) <<== if you know of a better one - please add!
2. QuickSMS (the simplest)
3. Silence (perhaps the most secure, I don't know, I didn't test security)

Arlen Holder

2020-05-02 23:43:48 UTC

Permalink

Post by arlen holder

1. QK SMS
2. Pulse SMS
3. Textra SMS
4. Handcent NextSMS

What's surprising, for such a simple single-purpose app anyway,
is that each MMS/SMS app has DIFFERENT features you may wish to use.
o It should be free with zero ads
o It should autoshrink outgoing MMS photos
o It should automatically save incoming MMS photos to the gallery
o It should schedule (and repeat) outgoing messages
o It should be able to _default_ to the microphone keyboard
o It should forward entire conversations
o It should enable password-protected private conversations
o It should have a configurable delayed-sending feature
o It should allow "active notifications" (if you like that sort of feature)
o It should backup and restore to the memory of the phone (or the net)
o It should allow the user to configure the order of the conversations
o It should allow automatic cleaning of messages older than a set date
o It should have a richly configurable automatic reply feature
o It should enable a blacklist
o It should _easily_ change the font and font size & background/foreground
o It should _easily_ add contacts for group messages
o It should _easily_ add or take photos (or emojis if you're so inclined)
o It should _easily_ copy & paste
o It should _easily_ share contacts
o It should _easily_ delete entire conversations
o It should _easily_ enable delivery confirmations (if desired)
o It should _easily_ send/receive SMS/MMS messages (duh)
o Ability to break or combine 160-character messages by default setting
o Ability to break or combine group texts as a group MMS or individual SMS
o Pulldown menu to "screenshot and send" the messages
o Press to "speak the text" in the message
o Press to "schedule task" calendar based on the text message
o Press to add a phone number to your contacts
o Press to send someone your GPS location at a button click
o What else?
Hence, my suggestion, at this early point in testing, is to pick three or
four SMS/MMS apps, and just switch between them whenever you need a
particular feature of any one of the apps.
<http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=3398643forwardsms_02.jpg>
<http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=3649816forwardsms_01.jpg>
<http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=5136644forwardsms_03.jpg>
The point is that there is a Venn Diagram with a great amount of overlap,
but also an appreciable amount of non overlapping features in these four
free SMS/MMS apps - and - it's so trivially easy to switch between them ad
hoc, that I'd suggest you load all four, and then simply use the one that
you need at the current moment in time.
o Pulse SMS
<https://messenger.klinkerapps.com/overview/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.klinker.messenger>
o QK SMS
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS>
o Textra SMS
<https://www.textra.me/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra>
o Handcent NextSMS
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handcent.app.nextsms>
Any other suggestions that we haven't already tried and deleted?

Update:

As of today, Google Messages has a billion installs:
o Google Messages passes one billion installs on the Play Store
<https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/05/01/google-messages-passes-one-billion-installs-on-the-play-store/>

Long ago I settled on PulseSMS, where I've only had _one_ problem with it,
which isn't its fault because it reads _only_ from the Android contacts
database instead of from private contacts databases (which are what I use).
o Does anyone know how the PHONE ties to CONTACTS tiies to SMS on Android 9 Pie?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/EvXtsP9radE>

However, Google Messages must be what most of you use given this info:
o Google Messages app reaches 1 billion downloads without being pre-installed on Android
<https://9to5google.com/2020/05/01/google-messages-downloads-billion-android/>

Apparently only one other app not pre-installed has as many downloads:
o Google Duo hits 1 billion downloads on the Play Store
<https://9to5google.com/2018/12/23/google-duo-1-billion-downloads/>

This counts unique Google Play Store acounts downloading apps:
o Google Maps passes 1 billion downloads on the Play Store
<https://9to5google.com/2014/06/14/google-maps-passes-1-billion-downloads-on-the-play-store/>

So I'll add Google Messages to my tests:
o Messages, by Google LLC
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging>

--
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