Text Free: Calling & Texting

Review by eFreeware

TextFree Voice is a free app from Pinger, Inc. that hands you a second phone number to call and text from. It has been on Android since October 2013 and now sits past ten million installs with a 4.5 average across more than 128,000 ratings, which tells you it has settled into a familiar routine for a lot of people. The pitch is simple: pick an area code, get a number, and use it for calls and messages over WiFi.

The reason to consider it is that the second line does not arrive with a second contract, a second SIM or a second handset. If you want a number you can give out for marketplace listings, a side business, or a group of contacts you would rather keep apart from your main line, this is the kind of app built for exactly that. Calls and texts run over WiFi.

It is worth setting expectations early. The app is free to download and use, it carries ads, and there are in-app purchases. The developer offers a paid tier, TextFree Plus, at $9.99 a month, which changes what you get in a few specific ways I will come back to. None of that is unusual for this category, but it shapes how the app fits into daily use.

A second number you choose yourself

The feature the developer leads with is the number itself. You select a free second phone number with an area code of your choosing, and there is a bank of number combinations to pick from rather than a single assigned line. That matters if you want the number to look local to the people you are giving it to, whether that is customers in your city or relatives in another state.

Once the number is yours, calling and texting are unlimited over WiFi. The developer bills this as free unlimited calling and texting, and the mechanism is straightforward: the app routes your calls and messages through your internet connection instead of a cellular plan. For anyone on a limited carrier plan, that is the part that does the real work.

There is a catch in how the free number behaves over time. On the standard tier, the number can change or expire; reserving it so it stays put is one of the things the paid tier covers. If your number is going to be printed on a business card or handed to clients, that distinction matters more than it would for someone using it casually.

Messages, media and the extras around them

Texting is not limited to plain words. You can send photos, videos and GIFs, along with audio messages and emojis, and the developer has added PDFs to that list. Group texting is supported as well, so a single thread can carry a conversation with several people at once rather than forcing you into one-to-one messages.

Two smaller features round out the experience. Auto-Reply can respond automatically to incoming calls and texts, which is useful when you are driving, in a meeting or otherwise unable to pick up the second line. Custom call and text tones let you tell at a glance, or by ear, that the message or ring is coming to the TextFree number rather than your main one, and custom wallpapers let you personalize the look of the call and text screens.

The developer also points out that the app runs on iPod, iPad and computer as well as phones, so a handset is not strictly necessary to keep the number active. That widens the appeal to anyone who wants a callable line on a tablet or desktop without buying a phone for it. Customer support is available around the clock, which is a reasonable thing to have when your number is the thing that is not working.

What the Plus tier changes

TextFree Plus costs $9.99 a month and the developer lists four concrete differences. The first is that it removes all ads. The second is getting codes sent to you for online accounts without a limit, and unlocking those codes is a paid feature.

The third and fourth both concern the number itself. Subscribing reserves your number so it will not change or expire while you are subscribed, unless you decide to change it, and it also lets you change your number as often as you need. Those two pull in opposite directions, which is the point: you can hold a number steady for as long as you want it, or swap it out freely when a listing ends or a number gets too much unwanted traffic.

Read together, the split is fairly clear. The free tier gives you the number, the unlimited calling and texting over WiFi and the media and group features. The paid tier is about removing ads, receiving verification codes and controlling whether the number persists. Whether that is worth a monthly fee depends entirely on whether you need short codes and a stable line.

What it asks of you before you start

That makes the app a poor fit for somewhere with no usable internet, and a good fit for anywhere you already have a reliable connection, whether that is home, an office, a hotel or a cafe.

The second requirement is patience with the free tier's trade-offs. Ads are present, and the app offers in-app purchases. The features that make a second number viable as a long-term contact point, namely a number that does not expire and the ability to receive verification codes, sit behind the $9.99 monthly subscription. If you only need a number for a short-lived purpose, the free version covers the basics without any commitment.

Nothing here requires a second device. The app is free to download, works on phones, tablets and computers, and the developer keeps support open at all hours. The cost of entry is low; the cost of making the number permanent is the subscription.

Getting the most from a second line

If you are trying the app for the first time, the sensible move is to decide what the number is for before you pick it. A number you intend to keep should be one you are willing to reserve, so choosing an area code you actually want long term saves a change later. A number you only need for a single transaction, like a classified ad or a one-off signup, can be treated as disposable and swapped when it has served its purpose.

Auto-Reply is the feature I would set up early. Since the second line is often the one you are not watching, having it answer automatically keeps people from thinking the number is dead. Custom tones are worth the few minutes too; when both lines ring on the same device, a distinct sound for the TextFree number removes a small but constant source of confusion.

For group conversations, the group texting feature means you can run a family thread or a small work circle from the second number without mixing it into your personal messages. And if you use the app on a tablet or computer, keeping the same number signed in on more than one device is a natural way to make the line reachable when your phone is not at hand.

A second line for people who need one

TextFree Voice does one job and does it in a way that is easy to understand: it gives you a number, and it lets you call and text from it over WiFi without touching your carrier plan. The media sharing, group texting, Auto-Reply and custom tones are the sort of supporting details that make the number usable rather than merely present, and the option to run it on a tablet or computer extends it beyond the phone in your pocket.

The trade-offs are equally plain. Anyone who needs to receive short codes from banks or other services should factor that in from the start rather than discovering it later.

This suits people who want a separate line for a side business, online selling, dating, or simply keeping a set of contacts away from their main number, and who have reliable WiFi to run it on. If you need a number that behaves exactly like a carrier line, with codes and no ads and no monthly cost, the free tier will not get you all the way there, and the subscription is the only way to get that.

What's new in version 13.28

Better. Faster. More reliable. That's what we aim to be, so we've made a few improvements to TextFree Voice. If you're enjoying the app, feel free to leave us a review or rating.