Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Looking for cheap alternatives to SMS for the iPhone? There's an app for that.
Imagine that you're at home one night and want to send a message to your partner or roommate or someone else, but you really don't want to get out of your chair, and you don't want to yell loudly enough for them to hear you. So pick up your iPhone, but you don't want to send an SMS or call them. Surely there's an app for that...
Actually, there are several; some better than others. Take Texter for example. For 99¢ you can send messages back and forth with other people on the same Wi-Fi network. Sounds promising, right? After all, SMS costs are ridiculously expensive, so why not pay a $1 fee to buy an app to send messages back and forth.
The idea isn't bad, but the implementation is. First of all, Texter only works over Wi-Fi. And not just any Wi-Fi. Both users must be on the same Wi-Fi network. But maybe everyone in your family has an iPhone or iPod touch, so you're still willing to give it a try. Well, don't open your wallet just yet, because there's one more detail that we need to mention -- Texter doesn't support push notifications. Since Apple doesn't allow third party apps to run in the background, the end result is that you can only communicate with other Texter users if they already have the application open on their iPhones.
I can't even imagine a "use case" for this application. Who would sit around with their iPhone on, running an application in the hopes that maybe someone in the same home/office with the same application might want to chat with them? It simply is never going to happen.
If you want to avoid SMS charges, but still want to send quick messages to other iPhone users, why not use AOL's free (ad-supported) AIM iPhone app? It works over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi, supports push notifications, and also allows you to connect with a slew of other people besides iPhone users.
Maybe you don't like AIM or SMS. Maybe you really like the idea of having an iPhone app that is quick and easy and doesn't require any login or giving away your cell phone number (like SMS does). If that's the case, checkout the 99¢ Ping! app for iPhone. It also works over EDGE, 3G, and Wi-Fi and supports push notifications. You'll also have that healthy self-satisfaction of knowing that you are only communicating with other red blooded iPhone/iPod touch users.
I'm sure there are a slew of other alternatives to SMS for the iPhone that work over EDGE/3G or Wi-Fi and support push notifications. Tell me about your favorites in the comments (bonus points for including an App Store link).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Buckingham said 9:16AM on 10-17-2009
I don't see the point of this article at all.
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Michael Jones said 2:33PM on 10-17-2009
I don't see the point of this comment at all.
KingDeb8r said 9:19AM on 10-17-2009
I see the point - look at all the adverts around the page!
MON$Y!!!
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Justin said 9:22AM on 10-17-2009
Duh, Google Voice. It's capable of a lot more than just SMS, too. And hey, it's free!
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akcpe said 9:39AM on 10-17-2009
Umm.... it still uses your monthly SMS bucket. Unless you haven't linked it with your cell # in which case you've just defeated the purpose.
Justin said 9:43AM on 10-17-2009
No it doesn't, I can send SMS messages through Google Voice and I have a Tracfone; it doesn't use any Tracfone minutes to do it. Incoming works the same way. If I read them ON my Tracfone, it charges Tracfone's charges. But if I read them and send them through Google Voice, there's no charge at all.
me1251 said 10:05AM on 10-17-2009
you can also have your texts forwarded to your email.... so if you have push email it's almost as fast as revieving a text normally, only it's revieved through data and not sms (that you get charged for). you can also reply right from your email and it looks like you sent it from your gv number.
robotrock said 9:22AM on 10-17-2009
FYI AIM can send text messages to any phone...even if they don't have/use AIM.
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Patrick said 9:35AM on 10-17-2009
Ping! is cool. Just works and you don't get logged of after some hours of inactivity etc.
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bug said 9:42AM on 10-17-2009
More like SMS' are free if you don't live in the US of A. You write like the whole world suffers from awful telecom companies.
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Jenny said 5:14AM on 10-20-2009
You got that right! Here in Japan, Softbank is the carrier for the iPhone and they have an unlimited data plan for SMS/MMS, and internet. Only thing they charge for is the number of minutes you actually talk. I only call my bf, best friend and work when I need to.
90% of the population uses a train or bus so it's only natural to use text messaging.
drumstik76 said 10:00AM on 10-17-2009
I use a combo of things to get sorta free SMS -- I use GPush $1.99 http://bit.ly/AHlr1 -- and then the GV Mobile app on a Jailbroken iPhone
People send me SMS messages to my GV number, GPush in turn pushes the SMS message to me - I fire up GV Mobile and respond.
I've done a slew of demos with people and it's just nearly as fast as straight up SMS.
That's how I do it, it's a kluge - but I blame Apple for screwing GV users.
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Josh said 10:26AM on 10-17-2009
How'd you get GPush to work on your Jailbroken phone? I've been trying to get mine to work correctly...
p00pers said 12:51PM on 10-17-2009
Push gmail works natively on the iPhone now. http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/push-gmail-for-iphone-and-windows.html
If you already have another exchange account set up on your iPhone this won't work (business users would mostly have this problem I guess? I don't know, I'm a student and ignorant about the ways of business), but for everyone else there is a free alternative that works with GV.
Geezer said 10:02AM on 10-17-2009
Ping! Is very cool. I have been pinging friends all over the world for free! It has also become the default comm method between my wife and I when we are not together.
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Yoshi1080 said 10:04AM on 10-17-2009
I don't understand the purpose of Texter – why not just use an IM client, preferably with the open Jabber protocol? Works anywhere, anytime, on different devices. With push. I've got BeeJive and it's really good.
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Tranceaddict420 said 10:15AM on 10-17-2009
Can't believe no one has mentioned textfree unlimited from Pinger. Great program, uses Wi-Fi/3G/Edge/GPRS and push.
Costs $6 for a year, and you get an "email address" that your friends can text you at-so doesn't require a "reply only" method.
I got mine before 3.X software came out, so the fee was ONE TIME instead of annual-but even annually FAR CHEAPER than AT$T hoses you for.
On that subject, WHY WHY WHY (other than people are apparently TOO HAPPY to pay it) does texting cost so much? Measure the data transferred in a text message vs. surfing the net all day on the iPhone. $30/month for data or $20 for unlimited texts. It is clear that the 3G data use will be exponentially higher than the text use. WHY SO MUCH-Cell phone company vultures...
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Josh said 10:28AM on 10-17-2009
Why does texting cost so much? Because cellular networks realize that people are addicted to it. What could normally be said in a minute of conversation can be multiple texts. Since it's proven that most people don't stop even with a price hike, companies are able to make a killing on texting plans.
I can't believe no one has mentioned TextFree from Pinger. Here's a link so I can get them bonus points.
http://bit.ly/3mdqhK
Tranceaddict420 said 2:55PM on 10-17-2009
Pretty sure I mentioned pinger text free in my post and you responded saying no one mentioned text free?!? Confused!
schaert said 10:40AM on 10-17-2009
WhatsApp is even better than Ping since it's capable of identifying users by their mobile number (authentification by SMS, only once).
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