Verizon is stopping support for message+ and says to just use Google messenger. Fuck that I hate Google, can anyone suggest an app I can use to just text people and send pictures that works on and offline?
If you want privacy, SMS definitely isn’t private…
I cannot understand why people still use SMS in 2024, it makes zero sense to me
If you’re just looking for a basic texting app, then Textra was okay back when I used it.
Signal appears to be one of the best. Not a user. Simply a person paying attention to tech, privacy, etc. podcasts and the like.
If we’re defining “text” as “SMS, MMS or RCS”, Signal doesn’t do that anymore. You can only send messages to other signal users. Signal is a great app but you won’t be able to reach people with it unless you talk them into using it.
There are some FOSS SMS clients tho. I used to use Simple SMS, but there were no updates for 12 months.
Maybe try Deku SMS: https://github.com/deku-messaging/Deku-SMS-Android
It seems to have at least some traction for what it’s worth.
I have no need. iMessage is good enough, I don’t talk about anything illicit, I am not planning crimes.
Signal is still great for cross-platform rich messaging, sending photos and videos with good quality (unlike with SMS), as well as voice and video calls. It also has fantastic desktop apps, similar to how you can use iMessage on your Mac, but Signal works on Linux and Windows as well. And you don’t need to be a criminal to care about your privacy.
For a simple replacement for a sms messaging app, there is https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.messages/
It depends on what exactly you’re looking for in a messenger. If you are able to get people onto a specific platform, go with something like Signal, that’s your best case scenario.
If you’re unable to do that though, and need SMS/MMS, you have options. QUIK is an app I highly recommend for SMS and MMS. The big downside, however, is that RCS is seemingly exclusive to Google Messenger on Android. If you want to use RCS, you’re kind of stuck unfortunately.
To minimize needing to use it, you could buy an old iPhone, jailbreak it, and try and set up Beeper Mini on an android device. That’s what I do at least, which helps quite a bit. It’s finicky and just not perfect, but it’s better than just using SMS/MMS.
Hopefully this comment covers your use case and you’re able to get some useful info out of it.
I don’t think any of the recommendations here are even close to what OP is asking for… QUIK from my understanding is just a replacement SMS app, it does not “sync messages to other devices” or allow you to send SMS messages via your phone from other devices, nor does it have a desktop/web version, all of which is what Message+ does. Pretty sure this requires a self-hosted server to do (or a third-party proprietary service like MightyText).
SmsMatrix, KDEConnect/GSConnect, Nextcloud Talk are some examples that will do this.
