In today's world, we text more than we call. That's not to say we don't call at all anymore, just that calls are more time consuming and often inconvenient. Texting provides a quick way to relay a message without having to be stuck to your phone for an hour on a call.
And in more recent history, we use messaging apps rather than SMS messaging apps because they offer more features. Messaging apps offer awesome ways to customize chats among friends, schoolmates, or colleagues. Check out some of the best free messaging apps for Android.
1. Signal
If privacy is the most important thing you want out of a messaging app, you should use Signal. Signal uses end-to-end encryption to keep all your messages, pictures, videos, and calls secure. Signal's servers will never save your messages. Plus, the app is open source so you're free to audit the code if you know how and want to.
Any images or videos you take within the Signal app are never saved to your camera roll. Then, there are also built-in image editing features. This is awesome so you never have to leave the app and save an image to your phone to edit it through another app.
And believe it or not, all that privacy you get is completely free. There are no ads in this app, no in-app purchases, and none of your information is being sold to fund the app.
Download: Signal (Free)
2. WhatsApp
WhatsApp launched in 2009 and it has grown massively in popularity since then, especially recently after they added video call functionality. Although the most popular way to use WhatsApp is on your phone, you can use it on other devices as WhatsApp Web.
Messages through WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted and you can send text, voice, pictures, videos, and even documents. You can tie your existing phone number to WhatsApp and see which of your contacts are using the app. Then, you can also make free domestic and international phone calls through the app using your phone's Internet connection.
However, if you're privacy-aware, do keep in mind that WhatsApp shares a lot of data with Facebook.
Download: WhatsApp (Free)
3. Viber
Viber is another fantastic free messaging app that boasts cross-platform capabilities among a wide array of devices. You can do all the same stuff you can do with other messaging apps, like send end-to-end encrypted messages, pictures, etc. and link your existing phone number to sync your contacts.
Viber is less popular, so fewer people are on it compared to larger messaging apps like WhatsApp. That said, if you've tried out WhatsApp or you just want something less crowded, convince your friends to try out Viber. It gives you everything you need out of a good messaging app, like free long distance calls, and privacy.
Download: Viber (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. KakaoTalk
KakaoTalk is another messaging app that's easy to use and offers a lot of fun extras like emoticons, stickers, voice filters and more. The app offers free calls and you can send messages and multimedia.
One of the cool things about KakaoTalk is that you can set appointments within the app. Then you can set reminders for those events so you never miss lunch with a friend or a business meeting.
There are also open chats you can join to follow certain hashtags. KakaoTalk is popular among Korean-Americans, so you'll see a lot of Korean in the app, but if English is your only language, you can still easily navigate the app.
Download: KakaoTalk (Free, in-app purchases available)
5. Discord
Discord is probably most popular among the gaming community, but it's not exclusive to gamers.
With Discord, you can create different groups among your friends to chat in. Then, you can create chat and voice channels within each group. You can create as many channels as you want, with titles like Memes, School Stuff, and Hang Outs to keep chats separate and focused.
The voice channels are neat because anyone in the group can hop in at any time and leave easily if they want to because it's not a traditional call. You can also see which of your friends is in the voice channel before getting on.
Plus, if you're feeling creative, Discord allows you to create custom emojis to use in your chats.
Download: Discord (Free, in-app purchases available)
6. GroupMe
GroupMe is a great simple messaging chat for groups. You can have individual chats as well, but the app shines with larger groups of friends, family, classmates, or colleagues. You can share text, images, videos, GIFs, and URLs with a preview picture and title.
There's a gallery of all images and videos that have been shared in the chat so you can easily go back and find funny stuff. And for every message that is sent, you can like it with whatever icon you choose as your Like icon.
This feature comes in handy if people are trying to vote on something, like where to eat or what to do. You can type out each option and people can like whichever option they want to cast their vote.
Download: GroupMe (Free, in-app purchases available)
7. Telegram
If Signal doesn't appeal to you, Telegram is another great messaging app that will keep your messages secure. The app uses a combination of 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption, and Diffie-Hellman secure key exchange. With all of that, you can be sure your messages are private to you and whoever you're sharing them with.
Telegram works across phones, tablets, and computers and syncs all the data between them. So if you start typing a message on your phone, you can pick up right where you left off on your computer.
Telegram also has a massive upper limit for groups. You can have up to 200,000 members in a group, whereas most other apps set the limit around 200 or 300 people.
Download: Telegram (Free)
8. Slack
Slack is extremely popular for businesses because of its professional interface and ability to keep conversations looking clean. It can be great for personal conversations too for those same reasons.
Although you may not need a professional looking messaging app for your personal conversations, it can make chatting feel a lot fancier. On top of the clean layout, Slack gives you the ability to section off your topics. So if someone sends a message asking a question, people can respond directly to that message in a thread to keep the feed uncluttered.
Download: Slack (Free)
What's Your Favorite Messaging App?
All of these free messaging apps are great alternatives to your phone's built-in SMS messaging app. And to top it off, most of these can send and receive SMS messages as well if you wanted to make it your primary messaging app.
Messaging apps give you a more fun, customizable way to chat with your friends and family, whether they live near you or in another country. But if you do still prefer SMS, there are lots of great apps to choose from.
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