Textra

[Bront]

So I guess I'm out of luck if my apartment has horrible coverage. I thought there would be a way of a this party app running strictly via WiFi

Google Voice will do that, but the app itself doesn't handle MMS very well. I have GV and Textra, use GV for voicemail only, but I can use it for texts if I needed to.

 

[Shilohcane]

This is from the Textra message board.
T-Mobile MMS over WiFi Calling – Textra SMS

T-Mobile MMS over WiFi Calling
← Knowledge Base
Thanks for the feedback.

Regrettably, T-Mobile does not grant any third-party messaging apps access to the T-Mobile WiFi Calling feature for MMS. T-Mobile use something called GBA authentication which only system apps or apps signed by t-mobile can use (so not Textra).

We are working with t-mobile to hopefully allow us access!

In the meantime ensure in Textra, Settings, MMS Settings, Prefer WiFi is off.

Thanks.

 

[kd0h]

This is from the Textra message board.
T-Mobile MMS over WiFi Calling – Textra SMS

T-Mobile MMS over WiFi Calling
← Knowledge Base
Thanks for the feedback.

Regrettably, T-Mobile does not grant any third-party messaging apps access to the T-Mobile WiFi Calling feature for MMS. T-Mobile use something called GBA authentication which only system apps or apps signed by t-mobile can use (so not Textra).

We are working with t-mobile to hopefully allow us access!

In the meantime ensure in Textra, Settings, MMS Settings, Prefer WiFi is off.

Thanks.

Nice to know they are trying, Textra is awesome like that! Unfortunately with the Nexus 5 since it is not a "T-Mobile" phone doesn't have Wi-Fi calling

Nexus 5 4.4.2 (rooted)

 

[Santiago Pedraza]

I moved from Hangouts to Textra for a very stupid reason. I don't have a data plan in my phone so I don't have my Google account linked on Hangouts. It really bothered me that I couldn't get a picture in my contact while using Hangouts so I changed to Textra and I am more than happy. This app is just awesome!

 

[RionDunn]

Wow thanks for the good convo everyone. So I guess textra is the cats ***! But I do love hangouts, believe it or not I find it more accurate and reliable than imessage!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Jonneh]

I really enjoy Hangouts too. I tried Textra, and it's fine and all, but coming from Handcent/Go SMS/etc, it's not "fully" featured, and coming from Hangouts, well, for some reason I just seemed to enjoy using the Hangouts app more. I'm in the minority on these forums though.

 

[el3ctronics]

I used Textra before Hangouts got SMS/MMS capability. I've since switched to Hangouts and couldn't be happier. I think it's way more reliable and is Google's version of iMessage that works great. I also love the fact that you can mute specific group conversations in Hangouts b/c in Textra you only have the option of muting specific people.

 

[rrocha1]

I love TEXTRA especially the animated emoji

Posted via Android Central App

 

[RionDunn]

I'm really happy I'm not the only one who lives hangouts!!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Iggymart]

I don't mind hangouts either, but I prefer to use Textra. Its just a matter of personal preference.

 

[MJCelt]

I would prefer to use Hangouts, but it is missing the most important feature for my needs: being able to set custom notification alerts for each contact. I need that audible alert to let me know if I need to read something right away or not. Textra provides this feature so I will be sticking with it, at least until Hangouts adds this feature.

I find it surprising that Google did not implement this when they made Hangouts the default messaging app, seems a pretty basic requirement these days.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Not sure if this has been covered, but if you are getting crappy coverage at home then you should qualify for a free signal booster depending on your carrier. You also might be able to skip out of the ETF and go to another carrier.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[RionDunn]

Not sure if this has been covered, but if you are getting crappy coverage at home then you should qualify for a free signal booster depending on your carrier. You also might be able to skip out of the ETF and go to another carrier.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm in Canada and unfortunately we do not have the luxury of carriers offering free boosters, at least to my knowledge. The three heavy hitters have never produced such solutions free of cost.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[mainevent3405]

I've used them all.....Gosms, Handcent, Textra, Hello, Evolvesms and have settled on Hangouts. It just works for me. It's clean and easy to use. Also, they are about to get calling from Hangouts as well (ie Google Voice). I love that you can snooze notifications and mute groups as well. Hangouts is the best to me, especially coming from imessage. Google is doing great things!

 

[HailStorm26]

Textra was my favorite until I decided to give each popular SMS app a try. I have tried Textra, Chomp, Handcents, Go SMS, Hover Chat, My SMS, 8SMS, and of course Hangouts. After trying all of those Evolve has become my favorite as it has the clean look of hang outs but with all the extra settings hangouts doesn't have. Hangouts is great but when you go to the setting if hangouts its depressing. I also liked hover chat (ninja SMS) but it has a bug with the themes changing colors that was super annoying.


As for Textra sending SMS over WiFi I do not think so. I know some SMS apps have the setting to send MMS over WiFi. I believe textra has that setting but you have to turn it on. Also your carrier has to support sending MMS over WiFi. I know my carrier, Sprint, does support it. But I do not believe it is possible to send SMS over WiFi. I think that would defeat the purpose of it being an SMS. If you send a text message over WiFi it is MMS. For example Kik and other message apps like that send over WiFi but they are not SMS they are MMS.