Alternate to Signal Messenger for SMS?

Kia ora koutou katoa!

At some point I seem to have managed to remove the plain old SMS app in favour of Signal Messenger. Now with Signal dropping SMS functionality and throwing people back to the wolves, I am trying to work out which app I should be using for SMS.

  • What is/was the default SMS app for Fairphone (FP4)?
  • What do people in a similar situation recommend and/or are moving to?

Ta muchly,
Ian

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The default app is just called Messages (com.google.android.apps.messaging), did you maybe disable all the Google apps at some point? :thinking:

Since every other Simple Mobile Tool is excellent (open source) software, might I suggest Simple SMS Messenger (Google Play|F-Droid) :slightly_smiling_face:

Personally I’ve switched to the default AOSP messaging app (com.android.messaging) shipped with my custom ROM.

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I use Signal as my only messenger. But I don’t use it for regular text messages. I use the default app for that, the one that comes with Android (Google Messages). The reason I use it is because of RCS, which is a major improvement compared to SMS. It’s also the reason why Signal ditched SMS, RCS is what people should use. But adding that development is not in the budget or scope of Signal.

There are plenty of open source SMS clients. Such as the Simple Mobile one. I personally prefer the more modern and secure RCS. I also hardly ever use it, most contacts are on Signal.

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True, that’s been the final nail in the coffin, but they’ve tried to ditch SMS for years. People confuse SMS and Signal messages all the time, which lead to security concerns and people accidentally getting charged for messages. Signal on iOS also never supported it.
(There’s an interesting interview with their president on The Verge, which touches that topic among others)

Still, I was also one of the happy users of SMS in Signal.
The two contacts I can only reach that way, don’t use devices supporting RCS (otherwise they could just be migrated to Signal), so RCS isn’t necessarily the way forward in all cases, SMS isn’t dead yet :smirk:

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Naumai, haere mai.

I use QKSMS as this has a back-up function

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I use and could advice you Silence. It supports encrypted SMS, if you wish.

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You can switch directly to Matrix/Element Element secure messenger | Get started But avoid creating an account on the main server matrix.org, rather find a local server/provider. If you’re in France have a look at Matrix/Element | Messagerie instantanée | Je m'informe sur les services des chatons | La litière and Trouver par service | CHATONS

I already use Matrix/Element/Riot for a number of conversations, but it’s not an SMS client/app.

There are several bridges matrix <–> sms Bridges | Matrix.org

That is not an SMS app either.

I’m looking for an app to install onto my Fairphone to send (and receive) SMS/txt messages to people that don’t use Signal when Signal drops support for sending SMS/txt messages.

Simple SMS
QKSMS
Textra

The first two are open source but Textra works better IMO.

I use Simple SMS and it works as expected. I like the idea behind those simple tools, even if I do not use any other, yet.

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Ended up going down the Simple SMS Messenger route.

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