Text Messaging App

[Madchatthew]

I am curious as to what everyone uses for a text messaging app? I am currently using Google Messages app. I know a lot of people use Whats App and there is Facebook Messenger that you can send text messages through. I am wondering what a good texting app would be to use to have the security and not have the big tech companies fingers in all the messages that you send back and forth.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew My personal preference is Textra. There are others, but this is one of the better ones, and fully respects privacy.

https://textra.me/

However, with the onset of RCS messaging, and the eventual demise of SMS as a platform, you’d have to question if the move really is worth it.

[phenomlab]

I also found this

https://news.itsfoss.com/quik-sms-app/

Note that this isn’t available on Google Play - you need to get it from F-Droid.

[Madchatthew]

Very nice! Thanks for the two options. I have also read some reviews about Signal. You can’t do sms with that one though. It seems like people are moving away from sending texts and moving more towards apps that just do messaging and are more secure.

I installed the Quik Messages from F-Droid. I am going to try that one out and see how I like it. There are a lot of nice features with Google messages. They have the RCS for encryption and such and there are a couple other things that I like about it, but I just hate that they steal your data and sell it.

[Madchatthew]

I will probably try textra too and see what I think about it

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew yes, agreed. I’m no Google fanboy and also have an issue with their data harvesting model.

I think SMS is a dying breed considering the onset of instant messaging clients such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and a plethora of others.

SMS has its origins in the 1980’s so I’d fully expect it to become extinct at some point in the not so distant future.

[phenomlab]

Interesting article here concerning the future of SMS

https://www.tanla.com/blog-posts/the-future-of-sms-is-it-still-relevant-in-2024

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab that is an interesting article. I wonder if that is why a lot of messaging apps don’t include sms portion of messaging. It is too bad there isn’t a universal messaging so that no matter what messaging app you are using you can receive and send messages from any app. There may be an app that does that, but it is hard to get people to use the same messaging app that you are using. Which is what makes sms so nice is that not matter which sms app you use you can receive and send your messages and don’t have to try and convince people to use the same messaging app you are using.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew Most technology firms view SMS as a legacy product - which in fairness, it actually is if you consider the lack of encryption etc, which is a staple and standard on today’s messaging technologies. I do agree with the article though. SMS is still hugely popular around the globe, and you’re right in the respect of it just “working” without having to worry if the recipient of your message is using the correct platform.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab It is too bad that they can’t just upgrade it to include the security, but then maybe the other messaging apps are the upgrade. It would be nice to be able to add people by phone number. Then you could use whatever messaging app you liked and it would just route through the phone number means, but not using sms.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew I think it’s mostly the protocol and infrastructure not supporting those functions to be honest. As a developer myself, I too would not be interested in writing code or improving functions for code that was developed in the 80’s.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab said in Text Messaging App:

I think it’s mostly the protocol and infrastructure not supporting those functions to be honest. As a developer myself, I too would not be interested in writing code or improving functions for code that was developed in the 80’s.

This makes sense. I also tried out the two messaging apps from above, and with both of them the text messages were delayed severely. I didn’t get a text message for two hours after it was sent. So for now I went back to google messages. I just may switch to a messaging app and invite people and tell them they can get a hold of me on there. See what happens I guess. I am thinking Signal. That way I am not being mines by Meta (Facebook) or google. Then use google messages as backup texting.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew said in Text Messaging App:

tried out the two messaging apps from above

I actually did the same. I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly blown away.

[JAC]

@phenomlab that’s interesting!!!

[JAC]

@Madchatthew currently using a mixture of Telegram & Signal for the none SMS focused apps.

I do have WhatsApp installed but I cringe whenever I use it .

[phenomlab]

@JAC I use WhatsApp because literally everyone I know uses it, and they won’t be moving over anytime soon. They don’t really care it’s a Meta product - just that it works and is very convenient. To be fair, during the pandemic, these apps came into their own and were considered critical when people couldn’t physically meet but still wanted to keep in contact with loved ones.

The plus side of WhatsApp is the native end-to-end encryption, as with Telegram. I just don’t like the idea of transmitting sensitive information over something “Meta owned” - the same applies to @Madchatthew whom I know has privacy issues with anything Google related (and I don’t blame him either).

[Madchatthew]

@JAC said in Text Messaging App:

I do have WhatsApp installed but I cringe whenever I use it .

Yeah, it’s that Meta part that gets me every time. I think I might start using Signal and just start inviting people to it and see what happens. If I absolutely have to, I guess I could switch to whatsapp, but I won’t go down without a fight LOLOL

@phenomlab said in Text Messaging App:

The plus side of WhatsApp is the native end-to-end encryption, as with Telegram. I just don’t like the idea of transmitting sensitive information over something “Meta owned”

You know this is so important, especially now days when it seems like information is so easily hacked by nefarious people. Then you have these big companies that are focused on selling your information to others to stuff more money in their pockets.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew said in Text Messaging App:

Then you have these big companies that are focused on selling your information to others to stuff more money in their pockets.

And that’s the key point right there. Meta don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to privacy.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab and then you take into account how these big tech companies admitted into withholding news and events that could have swayed people to vote a different way and messing with election information. It is to the point where you can’t even trust these big tech companies. Anytime these companies get any kind of funding or favors from the government, you know that the government is gonna come knocking at their door asking for favors at some point.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew Yes, exactly. A bit like encryption with “backdoors” if you like.