Messenger - Texting App

Review by eFreeware

If your phone's built-in texting app feels like a plain gray box, Messenger - Texting App is built for you. It handles ordinary SMS and MMS but wraps them in emoji, animated GIFs, custom colors and a private box, and it can take over as the default messaging app on your phone. The developer, Emoji SMS Messenger, has kept this one going since May 2018, and the install numbers suggest plenty of people have made that switch.

The appeal is customization plus a few practical tools. You can pick your own wallpaper, restyle the chat bubbles, change fonts and text colors, block spam, schedule messages to send later and back up your message history. None of that is exotic on its own, but having it in one place is what makes the app worth a look.

It is a free download with ads and optional in-app purchases, and it holds a 4.5 average across more than 90,000 ratings. That is a healthy score for a category where messaging apps get judged harshly, and it suggests the basics hold up for most people who try it.

Who this texting app suits

The clearest fit is someone who sends a lot of standard texts and wants the experience to feel personal. If you like choosing a wallpaper from your gallery, matching bubble colors to your mood and adjusting font size until the conversation looks right, this app gives you those controls. It is also a reasonable pick if you have moved away from your carrier's default app and want something with more character.

The second group is people dealing with spam. The blocker lets you sort junk messages away from the ones that matter with a single tap, which is handy if your number has ended up on too many lists. And if you drive regularly, the driving mode turns off notifications and sends automatic replies so your phone stays out of the way.

It is less about replacing a full-featured chat platform and more about being a better version of the text app you already have. If your messages are mostly SMS and MMS with the people in your contacts, you are the target audience. If you need something for a work phone with strict policies, you would want to check your organization's rules first.

Emoji, GIFs and the fun side of texting

The app ships with over 3,000 emoji, including the Emoji One set, and supports animated GIFs sent over SMS and MMS. That combination covers most of what people actually share in a text thread: a reaction, a joke, a quick visual reply when words are too slow. The developer pitches this as making texts more vivid, and for casual conversations that is a fair description.

There is also a library of ready-made messages sorted into more than ten categories, including romantic, flirt and love texts. It is a small feature, but it can help when you want to say something nice and cannot find the words. You can also add a signature to your messages, which is useful if you use the same phone for personal and semi-professional contacts.

Group messaging is supported for all message types, and there is a quick search for your message history. Copying and pasting text works as you would expect. These are the quiet features that decide whether a texting app is comfortable for daily use, and they are all present here.

Privacy, blocking and scheduled messages

The private box is the feature most likely to draw attention. It encrypts content so it cannot be seen, and you can hide its icon so that messages and contacts stay out of sight. For anyone who shares a phone or simply wants a few conversations kept separate, that is a meaningful addition. The developer describes it as making texts safer, and the hiding option is the part that does the real work.

The blocker handles the opposite problem. Spam messages get separated from important ones, and adding a sender to the blocker takes one click. It is a straightforward tool rather than a smart filter, but for the volume of junk many people receive, straightforward is often enough.

Scheduling is the third piece. You can set a message to go out later, which gives you a window to reconsider or correct something before it is sent. That is a small thing that can save an awkward moment, whether you are sending a reminder, a birthday note or something you wrote in a hurry.

Backup and restore round out the set. Messages can be saved to your phone or to the cloud, and if you delete something by mistake, a backup taken beforehand lets you bring it back. The catch is the same as with any backup tool: it only helps if you set it up before you need it.

Making the app look the way you want

Customization is where this app puts most of its effort. You can use a photo from your gallery or take a new one as your chat wallpaper. You can also change the text color, font and font size. In practice that means you can build a theme that matches your home screen or just one that is easier on your eyes.

The combination matters more than any single setting. Someone who struggles with small text can enlarge the font. Someone who finds bright bubbles distracting can mute the colors. Someone who wants a photo of their family behind every conversation can set that up. The app is designed so that almost every visual element is yours to change.

The developer also notes that the app works on Android Wear. That is a niche benefit, but if you have a Wear watch and want to handle texts from your wrist, it is worth knowing before you commit. There is also a pop-up window for quick viewing and replying, which keeps you from leaving whatever you were doing.

What it costs and what you get for free

The app is free to download. It contains ads, and it offers in-app purchases. The app is free to install and use, with advertising and optional purchases.

I would treat the ad-supported model as the main trade-off here. Messaging apps are among the most frequently opened apps on a phone, so any advertising inside one is going to be visible often. Whether that bothers you is a personal call, and it is the kind of thing worth deciding before you make it your default texting app rather than after.

If the idea of paying for anything inside a texting app puts you off, that is a reason to think twice. If you are comfortable with a free app that shows ads and offers extras, the rest of what is here is available to you from the start.

How it compares with other messaging options

The natural comparison is the texting app that came with your phone. Those tend to be stable and minimal. This app is for people who find that minimalism limiting and want more control over how their messages look and behave.

The other comparison is a full-featured chat platform. Those are built around their own accounts and networks, and they do far more than SMS and MMS. This app is not trying to be that. It works with the messages you already send to phone numbers, which makes it a simpler kind of tool with a narrower job.

A third option is a paid messaging app with no advertising. That trade-off is the reverse of this one: you give up the free price in exchange for a cleaner interface. Which side of that line you prefer depends on how much advertising in a frequently used app bothers you, and there is no universal answer.

A capable pick for customized texting

Messenger - Texting App is a free SMS and MMS client that earns its keep through customization and a handful of genuinely useful tools. The private box, the spam blocker, scheduled messages and backup are the features that would keep me interested, while the emoji, GIFs and theming are what make it pleasant to open every day.

It is ad-supported and offers in-app purchases. It suits anyone who does not mind ads in exchange for a free texting app. If you can live with advertising in exchange for a more personal messaging experience, the rest of the package is substantial.

I would recommend it to anyone who texts primarily by SMS and MMS and wants their app to look and work the way they choose. It suits people who like tinkering with themes, people who get a lot of spam, and people who want a private corner for a few conversations. If your texting needs are basic and you like the app your phone came with, there is no urgency to switch.

What's new in version 1.8.9

Thanks for your support. This version: - Improvement and optimization.