FreeTone Calls & Texting

Review by eFreeware

Paying a carrier for a second line is hard to justify when most of what you send is a text or a short call. That is the gap FreeTone, from TextMe, Inc., tries to fill: a free app that hands you a real US or Canada number and lets you use it for calls and messages.

The pitch is straightforward. You get a number with voicemail, you call and text US and Canada numbers at no charge, and the developer is explicit that you do not have to earn or buy credits first. The app sits in the Social category on Google Play, is free to download, and has been around long enough to accumulate over ten million installs and a 4.1 average from 131,929 ratings.

What interests me is the framing. Most apps in this space make you trade something for cheap calling. FreeTone's developer bills it as the one that skips all of that for US and Canada numbers, and that claim is the whole reason to consider it.

A real number, not just a messenger

The core of FreeTone is the number itself. When you sign up you can choose the area code you want, which matters more than it sounds: a local-looking number is easier to hand out to a doctor's office, a landlord or a delivery driver than a string of digits from a random region. The number comes with voicemail, so calls you miss still leave a record.

Signing up is done with an email address, a Facebook account or a Google account, and the developer says your account is accessible across devices, which makes the setup flexible.

Once the number exists, the everyday use is ordinary telephony. Calls go to US and Canadian numbers, landline or mobile. The developer calls the call quality and speed better than other VoIP apps, which is the kind of claim worth treating as marketing until you have tried it on your own connection.

Texting, pictures and group threads

Messaging is where a free number earns its keep. FreeTone sends real SMS messages to any number, not just to other people running the same app, and it handles MMS as well. That covers the ordinary traffic: a photo of a parking spot, a short video, a voice note when typing is inconvenient.

Group messaging is included, so a thread with several friends works the way you would expect, and the app supports stickers and photo sharing alongside plain text.

The reach extends past North America for texts. The developer lists free texting to 40 countries, naming Mexico, Dominica and Brazil, which is a useful bonus if you keep in touch with people outside the US and Canada. That particular bundle is subject to a fair usage policy that balances inbound and outbound traffic, so it is best treated as a perk for normal conversation rather than a bulk-sending tool.

Calls over Wi-Fi and video chat

Calls run over Wi-Fi, and the developer points out that this lets you use a tablet as a working phone. For anyone with a Wi-Fi-only device, or a phone plan with a tight minute allowance, that is the feature that changes what the hardware can do. The new number also means calls arrive on it rather than eating into your carrier minutes.

There is a video side as well: FreeTone includes HD video calls, and the developer ties them to invitations, so bringing friends onto the app opens up the video chat features.

One limit is worth flagging early because it affects how you would use the line. Inbound calls to your FreeTone number are complimentary for the first five hundred minutes, after which the developer charges a small extension fee to keep receiving them. Outbound calling to the US and Canada stays free within the stated bundle.

What the free bundle actually covers

The free calling and texting offer is tied to residency. Free calls and texts to US and Canada numbers are limited to people living in the US and Canada, so the app is not a route to a cheap North American line from elsewhere.

Coverage inside North America is not complete either. Hawaii, Alaska and some other territories fall outside the free bundle, which is easy to miss if you are choosing the app for family spread across the country. Anyone with regular contacts in those places should factor that in before relying on FreeTone as a main line.

The developer's own terms also apply to use of the service. The practical question is whether a free number with these boundaries fits how you communicate.

Best for a second line, not a replacement

I would point FreeTone at people who want a separate number without paying for one. Selling a couch on a classifieds site, giving a number to a contractor, or keeping work messages away from a personal line are all jobs a free second number does well, and the voicemail means you do not miss what comes in.

It also suits households with a tablet that sits around unused. Turning that device into something that can place and receive calls over Wi-Fi gives it a second life, and the shared account across devices means the same number works on both.

Anyone who texts friends and family abroad will find the 40-country texting list useful, provided the fair usage policy is respected. And for US and Canada residents who make a lot of domestic calls, the credit-free calling is the clearest reason to pick this.

The case for installing it

FreeTone is a mature app with a large user base and a solid rating, and its offer is unusually clean for this category: a real number, voicemail, free US and Canada calling without credits, and SMS and MMS that reach ordinary phones. The extras, from group threads to Wi-Fi calling on a tablet, round out a service that covers most everyday communication.

The trade-offs are stated plainly by the developer rather than buried. Ads and in-app purchases are part of the package, the free bundle is for US and Canada residents, Hawaii, Alaska and some territories are excluded, inbound minutes beyond the first five hundred carry a fee, and the Latin America texting perk comes with a fair usage policy.

If you live in the US or Canada and want a free second number for calls and messages, this is a sensible thing to install and try. If your contacts sit outside the supported regions, or you need a line that works in excluded territories, the free bundle will not stretch that far.

What's new in version 3.56.2

- Minor bug fixes and improvements