I think I fixed my texting problem.
Around 2024, Android quietly murdered their native texting app. No big announcements, they just took it away and stopped updating it. Since I use my phone for years (and bitterly resent being required to switch to a new one) I didn't realize this. However, I was getting strange problems.
I had trouble with group messages
I was constantly getting duplicate messages, especially from iPhone users
One person received a text from me that I sent in English, but she got a wall of Chinese characters
iPhone users were pissing me off all the time because they would put a "like" on something, but it came through as a separate text saying "User Liked "text I sent"" or worse "User Liked A Photo" (which photo?)
So when I bought a new (slightly used) phone, and started setting it up, I discovered that the built in texting app was Google Messages.
I'm not going to get into it, but this WILL NOT WORK for me. I'm also not interested in any Meta-owned texting app. Not everyone is on Signal, though I was able to manage some group texting needs that way.
I've been trying to find an app to do PHONE STUFF WITH MY PHONE that's, you know, functional and or elegant. I'm digging it to try to find something that's not mining me for data, or owned by a Meta puppet, or somehow linked back to Google.
First message app: required a Google login. Bye, Fucker. Left a negative review. Next?
Second message app: (liquid messenger) pop up ads, but seemed to work ok. Then, discovered that group texting didn't work. Simultaneously discovered that the ads included loud, unskippable video ads. Nope. Bad review. Next?
Third message app: instead of pop up ads, the ads are listed as individual "text messages". Yikes. Oh well, looks like I can start a group message. Yeah! Oh, no wait; unskippable video ads. Damn. Hang on, why is it trying to take control of my Home app?!?! Oh SHIT! wait, why aren't I getting my group texts for work?!? Negative review. Attempted to contact the developer. Dead end. Off you fuck, then.
Current texting app: it's called Textra which amuses me somewhat. The default text size is well-considered. It seems to have functional group texting. And OMG it has that "responses" thing that the iPhones use; people's reactions don't show up as separate texts anymore!
Here's hoping. If any of you have better suggestions or know anything about Textra, please let me know in the comments or my DMs.
