Apps for Texting

Textfree is a very compelling option for texting on an iOS device. This app gives you your own phone number to be used on your devices, while providing support for Facebook Chat as well. However, what really sets Textfree apart from the rest is its ability to make and receive phone calls. This feature is free for Textfree to Textfree users but costs money to buy minutes. Overall, Textfree is an extremely stable and reliable app that is probably the best for texting and calls on any iDevice.

Free texting recently updated with the ability to use your own number! As of this edit, you have a very limited amount of area codes to choose from, which might not matter to you. This app has the ability to send pictures and a nice amount of customization. You can customize ringtones, backgrounds and themes to be contact-specific. Thanks to Lee in the comments for pointing out that you can add Google Voice Integration with this app. Check here: http://blog.enflick.com/?p=3 For more information.

"Free texting" with a pretty heavy feature set behind it. Group chats, read receipts, the ability to send pictures, video IF taken from the iPhone camera, location mapping, and even a see-through background for walking while texting. Everything seems to be customizable as well, from backgrounds to colors of speech bubbles to contact blocking and passcode settings.

"Free texting" with group text and chat room communities. Like TextFree, it also does not send pictures.

"Free Texting", picture messaging and "walk to text" which lets you use the iPhone camera as the background. It also boasts fully customizable backgrounds and ringtones for each contact. Note that you get 3 months of pro with this purchase, then it reverts to the lite ad supported version.

"Free Texting" with picture messaging. Nothing to make it stand out in the crowd though. This app is ad-supported, but the ads can be bought out for $1.99. It should be noted in the app description it sayss that this app is not meant to replace your current sms plan. Well, isn't that the point??

Do you like Emojis?? Then you'll love this. The same "free texting" as everyone else, but cuter. NOTE that this app has a free version that seems just as good, just fewer emojis. You'll find the link to the free version below.

Pinch iMessengar HD is an okay option for texting on iOS. While not a bad app per se, it does not offer any features that other apps don’t. The one thing it does have is promotions and contests, where you can win prizes such as cash cards. While Pinch iMessenger is a stable app that does what it's said to do, there is nothing too special about it and I would recommend looking at another app for texting on iOS.

"Free Texting" has become my new way of saying that it doesn't give a static phone number. What this app DOES give is free private group messaging and pre-made images you can send. Note that you can't send any from your picture gallery or camera roll. Other than that, it's par for the course.