Instant messaging applications are powerful. Because of their real-time message delivery, people use WhatsApp, FB messenger, or a similar app to get in touch with relatives or friends. Messaging applications are not as secure as Android SMS apps. Sometimes, sending a text message by using the SMS service provided by the telecom operator is safer than sending a message through an instant messaging service. For example, will you send your bank account number to your lawyer, client, or any other person through WhatsApp? Some users may say yes, but most users will avoid doing so, considering the number of hacking incidents internet users have seen in the last few years.
One more situation wherein SMS service comes in handy is the online presence. If your friends are not online, they won’t receive the message you’ve sent with an instant messenger. Although the Android OS provides a utility to send and receive messages quickly, this utility lacks several features. Fortunately, the Google Play Store gives you free access to its massive collection of free tools (apps). Hence, we can easily replace the default SMS app with a better application. The Google Play Store has a listing of over 1000 free SMS apps, but the best applications among the lot are as follows:
Best SMS apps for Android
Microsoft SMS Organizer
SMS Organizer from Microsoft Corporation has 500+ million active users. Unlike other applications that get into the action straight away, SMS Organizer detects the user’s location and prompts them to select a language of their choice when they run it for the first time. The app also asks users to verify their phone numbers.
The app analyzes your messages and groups them into one of the following categories:
- Personal.
- Transactions.
- Promotions.
- Starred.
SMS Organizer enables you to set reminders. You can attach SMS to the reminders in SMO. The app features a powerful search tool that you can use to filter messages by their content. It provides a toggle option to show only the read/unread messages. SMS Organizer offers several customization options. By default, SO will make your phone vibrate, wake up, and display push notifications when it receives a new SMS. You can disable these three features from the app’s setting interface. SMS Organizer won’t display notifications for promotional messages. It supports 12 and 24-hour time formats.
Textra SMS
Textra is a feature-rich Android SMS app that requires several permissions to work as per your expectations. It has been developed by the developers of one of the most popular social bookmarking portals, Delicious. TSA has a beautiful user interface that displays SMS messages arranged by date. It has the search option to find conversations or messages that carry a specific word or character. Textra provides an option to create a new text message. It lets users mark all SMSes as read. It also enables users to blacklist a sender or set the following preferences for it:
- Change bubble color.
- Disable or enable notifications.
- Specify a send delay and signature.
- Turn on/off the delivery report for SMS or MMS.
- Convert SMS to MMS.
Textra allows you to customize the look and feels of the interface. You can change the theme, font, text size in TSA. Textra is one of the most download SMS apps on our list. It has an excellent rating of 4.5. If you’re an Android user, you must know that any application with 4.2+ ratings from a million users is damn good.
Also see: Best reverse phone number lookup apps
ZERO SMS
Zero is a fast and lightweight SMS app for Android with the same number of users and ratings as Textra. Its developer advertises Zero as a smart app that takes care of your privacy. Zero provides a pin code protection enabled private inbox where you can save personal messages. It lets you define a private number. Once you define this number, Zero will move the sent SMS to the private folder.
Zero has a message blocker feature that you can configure to blacklist SMS from specific numbers. It also allows users to discard SMSes containing a particular word or phrase. You can configure this application to alert you whenever it blocks an SMS. ZERO offers free themes. Users must download and apply themes manually if they don’t like the default UI. Zero is easy to use. It lets you pin messages.
Pros:
- Superb UI.
- Special privacy feature.
- Lightweight interface.
Cons:
- Ads
Google Messages
Google Messages is the best SMS app for Android. It lets users change the theme interface color from white to dark, block spam messages, access the SMSes on PC, etc. If the Google app finds a message suspicious/spammy, it displays a red-colored exclamation mark to the left of the message content. The app categorizes SMSes by phone numbers/senders. When you click on a message, it will display all messages sent by the same sender. Although Messages is an excellent application, it has a limitation of not allowing users to bulk mark SMSes as read.
GO SMS Pro
GO SMS Pro has a massive user base. It is brought to you by a team of developers behind over 50 popular applications on the Google Play Store. GSP offers more features than Textra and ZERO, but it forces you to make it a default SMS application on your device. GO provides a better UI interface than the above two applications. It lets users stay focused on a specific conversation by providing a sticky message feature. It has a delay-to-send feature with which one can easily make changes to the message before the app dispatches it.
This free Android SMS app enables you to mark a conversation with strangers as unwanted or unimportant. GSP provides a popup module to compose new messages and send them to a number of your choice. It has a private inbox module, an option to change theme font, and many cool features.
Pros:
- Plenty of features.
- Beautiful interface.
- Easy to use.
Cons:
- Advertisements.
Must read: Best QR code reader apps
CHOMP
Chomp is a simple SMS app for Android with a good UI. It has been published on the Play Store by the developer of Textra. It provides the following options when the user long presses on an SMS:
- Call the number.
- See the contact details.
- Manage notifications
- Delete the SMS.
- Blacklist the sender.
- Speak unread messages.
- Send SMS conversation as an email.
Like Textra, CHOMP supports theming.
Mood Messenger
If you love using emojis in text messages, Mood Messenger is for you. MM scans the words you type in the message and shows emojis relevant to the word you’ve entered. MM shows the number of messages sent/received in a conversation. It has a tabbed interface that lists contacts and SMS messages. This free SMS app for Android allows you to search for specific messages. It supports UI customization and has a contact/number blacklist option. MM supports animated GIFs. It supports live background wallpaper. It allows users to share MMS with their friends. MM also enables users to share their location in real-time.
Must see: Best apps like WhatsApp
Final thoughts: If you are looking forward to replacing the default Android SMS app on your phone or cellular tablet, try out the feature-rich applications I’ve shared above.
