Key Takeaways
- The Android operating system offers native support for third-party texting apps.
- Google Messages might be ubiquitous with texting on Android, but plenty of third-party developers have built their own solutions.
- Here are some of the most popular and best-executed texting apps currently available on the platform.
One of the great perks of Google’s Android operating system is its relative openness — if you want to switch out your default Short Message Service (SMS) texting app for another option, for example, it’s a fairly simple and straightforward process to do so.
These days, alternative instant messaging services like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and others have by and large superseded traditional SMS texting. Google, for its part, has built an excellent texting service of its own, leveraging support for the newer Rich Communication Services (RCS) texting protocol in the process.
It’s a great shame that Google doesn’t provide its RCS platform in API form for other developers to utilize in their own texting apps. However, I firmly believe there’s still room in the market for third-party messengers, even if they’re hamstrung by the antiquated SMS standard. Here are 6 Android apps in particular that offer an excellent end-user texting experience.
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An iconic staple of the Android texting scene
Textra SMS
A well-known third-party Android texting app with tons of customization options on offer.
Texta has long been heralded as one of the best third-party Android texting apps, and for good reason. It provided a wealth of customization options, ranging from text bubble styles, theme and accent colors, emoji styles, and more.
Textra also includes a feature that I simply can’t get enough of: a send delay timer.
The app is also well-designed: it fully embraces Google’s Material Design language, albeit not the latest third-generation version with Material You theming. To be fair, I’ve always enjoyed the visuals of Lolipop-era Material Design, and because o this extra fuels me with nostalgia in the best way possible.
Textra also includes a feature that I simply can’t get enough of: a send delay timer. Toggling this setting on will unlock a brief grace period, which provides the opportunity to cancel a message you’ve accidentally (or regrettably) hit ‘sent’ on.
Textra SMS is free to download, and will occasionally surface advertisements by default. An in-app purchase is available that unlocks a fully ad-free experience.
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2 Pulse SMS
A reliable and secure texting app with tons of customization potential
Pulse SMS
A well-designed third-party Android texting app with customization options and cross-device syncing.
Pulse SMS is another popular third-party Android texting app, which includes many of the same customization perks found in Textra SMS. Per-conversation theming and colorization options, a delayed sending function, and more are all present and accounted for here.
Pulse also brings with it the ability to sync your SMS messages across your other smart devices, doing so in an encrypted form via the company’s own account creation tool. End-to-end encryption is unfortunately absent from the basic SMS texting standard, so it’s great to see the developers’ fingers on the pulse when it comes to digital privacy.
End-to-end encryption is unfortunately absent from the basic SMS texting standard, so it’s great to see the developers’ fingers on the pulse when it comes to digital privacy.
Pulse SMS is a free download from the Google Play Store, but comes with ads by default. These ads can be disabled via an optional Pulse SMS+ upgrade, which provides additional perks such as texting from multiple devices. Pulse SMS+ can be had for a one-time fee, with monthly and yearly subscription options also available as an alternative.
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3 Chomp SMS
Chomp SMS
An alternative texting app for Android, made by the same developers as Texta SMS.
Chomp SMS is an alternative texting app built by the same team responsible for Textra SMS. Much of the same DNA can be found here, ranging from in-app customization options, a send delay function, and classic Material Design theming.
Chomp also provides a password lock option, the option to pin chats to the top of the interface, a ‘schedule send’ tool, and more. The app provides a clean and streamlined user interface, free of unnecessary clutter.
If you’ve ever tried out Textra in the past, then Chomp SMS will feel right at home for you. The app is free to download from the Google Play Store, with an optional single-purchase tier that removes the occasional displaying of advertisements.
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4 Simple SMS Messenger
Perhaps the most streamlined and attractive Android texting app of them all
Simple SMS Messenger
A lightweight and Material You-inspired SMS texting app for Android.
Speaking of streamlined interfaces, Simple SMS Messenger might just be the quintessential example of a lean-and-lightweight texting app available on Android. It boasts a compact app download size of only 29MB, and it provides a user interface that’s elegant in its simplicity.
Simple SMS Messenger adopts a modern rendition of Google’s Material Design language.
Unlike many of the other third-party SMS apps on this list, Simple SMS Messenger adopts a more modern rendition of Google’s Material Design language. The interface is chock-full of rounded corners, pleasant animations, and a dark mode that kicks in automatically. The downside here is that it doesn’t offer as many customization options as some of its aforementioned competitors.
Simple SMS Messenger is free to download on the Google Play Store, but comes with ads out of the box. An optional Pro version is available that removes ads and unlocks additional customization options, accessible via a yearly subscription fee.
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5 Microsoft SMS Organizer
Yes, Microsoft offers its own Android SMS app
Microsoft / Pocket-lint
Microsoft SMS Organizer
A Microsoft-built SMS texting app for Android, with a focus on segmenting texts based on category.
It might come as a surprise to many, but Microsoft has published its own SMS texting app onto the Google Play Store. It’s called SMS Organizer, and it’s quite good — the app attempts to automatically organize your text message threads into sorted categories. These include personal, promotions, transactions, and more.
The other big selling points here are the ability to translate incoming SMS messages from English into a number of other languages, as well as an automatic reminders feature that’ll tap into upcoming appointments, transit dates, and more.
The one caveat here is that the app isn’t available in all regions yet — currently, support is limited to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
SMS Organizer is a Microsoft Garage Project — a platform for experimental software releases from the tech giant that would otherwise be out of bounds. The app works entirely offline, and it’s entirely free to download and install.
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6 Beeper: Universal Chat
The same Beeper that (briefly) brought us iMessage on Android
Beeper: Universal Chat
A unified texting inbox app that pulls in your messages from other platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Slack, and others.
Beeper made headlines earlier this year when it briefly engaged in a cold war with Apple. The company attempted to bridge the green bubble / blue bubble divide, successfully bringing iMessage over to the Android platform for a short period of time.
Beeper may have lost the iMessage battle to Apple, but the company’s app is still an excellent choice overall. In addition to pulling in both your SMS and RCS threads into its service, Beeper also serves as a unified inbox that ropes in support for WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM, Slack, Discord, LinkedIn, Google Chat, IRC and Matrix chat.
Beeper may have lost the iMessage battle to Apple, but the company’s app is still an excellent choice overall.
Beeper is an impressive tool that streamlines texting, and it’s particularly compelling if you’re like me and constantly juggle across several instant messaging services to keep up with friends, family, and work colleagues.
Beeper is free to download and install from the Google Play Store. The developers plan on introducing a paid subscription tier in the future, with access to multiple accounts per network, among other benefits.
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