Texting app that isn't a battery hog?

[rhino89]

Hey, everyone, first time post here. I am looking for a texting app (preferably free, although not required) for my iPhone to replace "Textfree" - that thing was MASSIVE (took up about 70 MB, bigger than any other app I had) and seemed to drain my battery extremely fast...

Does anyone have any suggestions for smaller, more efficient apps? I tried inifiniteSMS (~3MB) and it failed to receive texts, and I tried Heywire (~15-20MB) and it kept crashing.

Anyone have any other way to send/receive texts without using my texting plan (it's very limited, which is why I need an app like this). I don't have any fancy requirements for it, I just need it to send and receive texts reliably. No themes needed, no calling features, just basic raw texting. But please no apps with crazy video ads... some ads are understandable, but I heard some are now introducing much more aggressive, in-your-face extended ads.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Primejimbo]

all these issues with these text apps, wouldn't it be less aggravation just to get more texts with your cell carrier?

You can also try Google voice, but anything that uses data will use for battery life.

 

[aztooh]

Whatsapp is great, however it requires the sender and recipient to use it, not sure if that's how textfree works or if it gives you your own number? Google voice is great, far more than just a "texting app". You can send and receive texts online with it as well as with the app on your phone...only negative with it for me is that there is currently no MMS support.

 

[rhino89]

Whatsapp is great, however it requires the sender and recipient to use it, not sure if that's how textfree works or if it gives you your own number? Google voice is great, far more than just a "texting app". You can send and receive texts online with it as well as with the app on your phone...only negative with it for me is that there is currently no MMS support.

I tried setting up google voice since it's a tiny app, only like 4MB, but was discouraged because it seems very complicated.... I decided to let it use my number (rather than getting one of their numbers) and once I had it all set up I couldn't even see how to text people. I would go to texts and there was no way to start a new text, nothing... it just had a list of my conversations (empty) and an option to go back to the main menu with the folders. Care to briefly explain how to use it? I tried reading the google voice help pages, they would mention options that I didn't have on my menus...

 

[takeshi74]

You can also try Google voice, but anything that uses data will use for battery life.

I use GV with little to no impact on battery life.

I decided to let it use my number (rather than getting one of their numbers) and once I had it all set up I couldn't even see how to text people. I would go to texts and there was no way to start a new text, nothing...

Select the contact via the dialer in GV.