Texting Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Animated Color Messages pops your Messages text

by Erica Sadun (May 10th, 2012)

For a buck, Animated Color Messages from SSA Mobile can add a certain flair to your iOS Messages conversation. It's a simple app to use. You choose a font, a text color or background pattern, or even a typing animation, and the app constructs a gif for you, pastes it into the system keyboard, ...

iOS 5 features: iMessage brings free texting to iPad, iPod touch

by Chris Rawson (Oct 12th, 2011)

Until now, the iPhone has had an exclusive on built-in texting via Apple's Messages app. That's changed in iOS 5, and now the iPad and iPod touch have joined the party. iMessage allows for free texting across all iOS devices running iOS 5 so long as they have internet access. If you've ...

Samsung getting in the mobile messaging business with ChatOn

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 29th, 2011)

Samsung today announced they are entering mobile messaging market. Like Facebook Messages, which hopes to kill off text messaging for good, Samsung's ChatOn is a cross-platform messaging service for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Samsung's own Bada OS that offers users the ability to send text, ...

Viber for iPhone updated with free text messaging

by Mel Martin (Apr 1st, 2011)

I liked Viber when I tested it several months ago. It's an iPhone VoIP app that allows free phone calls to any phone that has the app installed. I thought the terrific audio quality, lack of ads and ease of setup were all positives. Viber has been updated today to version 2.01 with free text ...

AT&T rumored to rework texting plan to counter Verizon iPhone

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 19th, 2011)

AT&T may enjoy inviting Verizon iPhone owners to life in the slow lane, but the latest rumor out of GearLive suggests that AT&T may be modifying some of its pricing plans to entice customers to stick with the GSM iPhone. The leaked Best Buy screen grab suggests AT&T will drop several ...

SwirlySMS brings free SMS app to iPad 3G

by Erica Sadun (Oct 14th, 2010)

Released today, "SwirlySMS free for iPad 3G" offers a free SMS solution that allows you to send and receive messages from your iPad 3G. This is a jailbreak-only solution. Available from the Cydia store, the new app uses your iPad's SIM to introduce native texting without having to hack your way into ...

Apple patents content filter for outbound text messages

by Aron Trimble (Oct 13th, 2010)

Ever the kid-friendly outfit, Apple filed a patent in 2008 that aims to make text messaging safer for the children. TechCrunch reports that today, the US Patent and Trademark office awarded Apple a patent which puts a ban on sending obscene text messages sometimes called "sexting." The technology ...

TUAW's Daily App: Texto SMS Favorites

by Mike Schramm (Sep 7th, 2010)

There are a lot of weird texting applications for the iPhone, and some of them are pretty hinky in terms of design or function. But Texto is probably the best looking SMS app I've seen -- it doesn't do any weird non-SMS text messaging or have all kinds of neon graphics running around. All it does ...

iPhone 4 sets texting speed record, beats Samsung Galaxy S

by Dave Caolo (Aug 25th, 2010)

This just in from the "bragging about marginally useful skills" department. This week, Salford, UK-based Melissa Thompson set a "texting speed record" on her Samsung Galaxy S by typing two sentences in 25.94 seconds. The sentences in question were: "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera ...

TextPlus goes beyond free texting, boosts communities

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jul 27th, 2010)

When I bought my iPhone 3GS, one of the helpful Apple retail guys told me to give textPlus a try for sending text messages, as I'd bought into the cheapest texting plan AT&T offers. I've since graduated to unlimited texting, and had left textPlus by the wayside until I found out it had a ...

Oh dear, textaholic seeks iPhone for carpal tunnel relief

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 22nd, 2010)

Note: The medical opinions expressed in this post are anecdotal in nature and represent the non-professional experiences of one blogger. It's true that some people have had success with trigger point therapy. However, it is our recommendation that Ms. Levitz and any person suffering with carpal ...

Ludicrous speed: 56 WPM on the iPhone

by Chris Rawson (Feb 9th, 2010)

I can type fairly quickly on my iPhone, at least in landscape mode -- I average about 30 - 35 words per minute compared to around 77 WPM on a standard keyboard -- but the guy in the video above has gone to plaid with his typing speed. Using an app called iTextSpeed [US$0.99, iTunes Link], this ...

ShoutOUT TXT brings voice recognition to SMS messaging

by Mel Martin (Dec 24th, 2009)

ShoutOUT TXT is a new app for the iPhone [iTunes link] that lets you dictate text messages to your iPhone and send them just as you would with regular SMS text messaging. You set up an account and text away, using your existing contact list, or entering any phone number that can be texted. After ...

Best iPhone cellular plan... ever?

by Kevin Harter (Aug 9th, 2009)

I like to joke that "Iowa is a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit." Residents often complain that there's nothing to do (other than milk cows and shuck corn). One can only stand so much antiquing. But we do have a few things going for us: clean air, relatively light traffic, lots of ...

NY Times op-ed on the hate that dare not text its name: iPhone rejection

by Michael Rose (Apr 5th, 2009)

Considering that it's turned out to be one of the most successful products in consumer electronics history, the volume of nay-saying on the iPhone has been constant and ongoing -- many dismissed the phone when it came out, when it was announced, and even when it was just a glimmer of a hint of a ...