How do you avoid charges on Tracfone texting service?

Hi.
I have tried all the apps and still i get minutes deducted from my account with tracfone.
When i send and receive text.
How can i get around this?
Thanks

Using the phone uses minutes, it doesn't matter whether it's voice or text.

What apps are you trying? Are you trying to magically make free calls and texts though the default apps? Never going to be free. If you use a texting/calling app like Google Voice it won't charge you over wifi, or a small bit of data over data. I send tons of texts for free with Google voice.