A guide to free text messaging
22 Jun 2016
While text messaging is generally included in most phone plans, why pay for it when you don’t have to? Here’s a breakdown of all the top apps that let you text for free.
Free text messaging is especially useful if you have loved ones who live overseas, as international texts are unlikely to be included in any phone plans. It also means you can stay in touch with family and friends back home when you’re off gallivanting around the world, provided you’re connected to wi-fi, of course.
The most popular of free text messaging services, WhatsApp has more than 200 million monthly active users. It’s remarkably easy to setup and use, and automatically syncs to your phone contacts so you know who you can message through the app and who doesn’t have access to it. You can send text messages, photos, voice messages and short videos to other WhatsApp users.
Perhaps one of the best things about WhatsApp is the group chat functionality, giving you the ability to talk to multiple people at once. The app also has a broadcast function, so if you want to send a message to multiple people, but don’t want to involve them in a group chat, the message will send to everyone at once.
Cost: free
Available on: iOs, Android, Blackberry and Windows
Viber
Perhaps not as popular as WhatsApp but still just as useful, Viber lets you send messages, stickers, emotions, photos, voice and video messages to other Viber users. It syncs with your phone so you know who is using the app and it uses your phone number as your login so people can recognise that it’s you trying to contact them. Again, you can create a group conversation so you can talk to multiple people at once. You can also create animations in the app and these can replace words automatically. For example, every time you type ‘let’s roll’ the text can be accompanied by some adorable sushi rolls.
Cost: free (unless making a call to non-Viber users)
Available on: iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows
Facebook Messenger
This dedicated messaging app builds on Facebook’s existing chat function, but adds mobile features. The Messenger sits in a different app on your phone, yet you can still access your inbox through your computer or tablet.
You can create group chats, send messages, emoticons, pictures and voice messages to other Facebook Messenger users.
Cost: free
Available on: iOs and Android
On your Apple smartphone
Apple devices have a feature, iMessage, that allows you to utilise free text messaging without actually downloading anything. This means, if both you and the person you are sending a message to have an Apple product and the iMessage function is on, your text messages will be free, as the network uses your wi-fi connection or your data allowance to connect. The important distinction is that a normal text message will be green (which you will need to pay for), whereas an iMessage will be blue.
It’s through iMessage that you can also start group chats. However, if one person in the ‘group chat’ doesn’t have iMessage, the chat will dissolve and the messages will send normally to everyone involved.
Unfortunately, at this stage, no other operator has a similar feature.
Cost: free
Available on: iOS
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