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Best free texting app for iOS 5?

Z

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 7, 2011
714
1,679
Hey guys,

I was just wondering what the best free texting ap would be for iOS 5? I'm currently using textie, but whenever i send a text to someone that destine use the app it shows up as a weird cryptic number. the only reason they know its me is because none of their other friends use this app. are there any that will send messages and have my number attached, so it shows up on their phone like it was a regular sms, i.e. with my name and not the mystery numbers? also, textie at this moment will not let me send messages, making me think that their servers are down or something... weird, and its the first time its happened so its not really a big deal, but still, there has to something better. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks guys
 
hmm just tried that one. looked at the screenshots on the app store and it clearly shows a button to text, but when i tried to use it there was only a call button...

any others you guys like?
 
As far as all the texting apps that I tried, caller ID (phone number the recipient will see) is the app's assigned phone number (either some random number of number that you can pick), not your cell phone number. And as you will soon find out, most people will not update their address book with your new number, especially if they need to call you on a different number.

One semi-solution is to find an app that provides number portability, which lets you transfer mobile phone number to their system. Google Voice provides this service, but for $20 one-time fee. And doing so will terminate your existing cell phone plan, (1) can be subject to early termination fee and (2) will require you to sign up with new cell phone plan (and choose different phone number on the new plan).

My recommendation is to rely on iMessage for people that have iPhone.
 
miles01110 said:
Are you in the US? Google Voice.
Click to expand...

Won't this have the same problem about needing to use a different number?

I don't think there is a solution for what the OP is asking. It's the exact same reason I never loved any of the 'texting' apps. There's no way around this problem.

Luckily, I know enough people with iPhones so iMessage actually helps me keep my texts way, way down.
 
there's so many of these apps in the app store but not all are free

best one is definately whatsapp messenger it costs a buck
liveprofile is the same crap but its free but i didn't like it too much
kik messenger is another
hookt is another its free
 
TextFree and TextNow were the best when I looked at them last time around. Both are free, or ad supported, and give an actual phone number (you have to use it a least once a month to not lose that phone number). TextNow can usually send pics (some carriers don't work with it for MMS).

WhatsApp I think more of as a chatting app than texting. It can't send to anything other than another WhatsApp user. So I don't consider that "texting" per se.




Michael
 
Z400Racer37 said:
Hey guys,

I was just wondering what the best free texting ap would be for iOS 5? I'm currently using textie, but whenever i send a text to someone that destine use the app it shows up as a weird cryptic number. the only reason they know its me is because none of their other friends use this app. are there any that will send messages and have my number attached, so it shows up on their phone like it was a regular sms, i.e. with my name and not the mystery numbers? also, textie at this moment will not let me send messages, making me think that their servers are down or something... weird, and its the first time its happened so its not really a big deal, but still, there has to something better. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks guys
Click to expand...


Try Vlingo, works on all OS 5 devices.

See here demo

http://youtu.be/zNbxqFKpp-4
 
Duplicate threads merged and moved to correct forum. Please create only one thread per topic in a single forum.
 
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