Best Android Messaging Apps in 2019

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messengers in the world, with encrypted multimedia chat, VoIP voice and video calls, and a drop dead setup. We liked WhatsApp more before it got bought by Facebook, but the service itself is still decent, widely-used, and in many places is more reliable than SMS, so it's still well worth its spot as our top recommendation.

Signal has been one of the most well-trusted secure messaging systems on the block for years. It's absolutely free and uses end-to-end encryption protocol to ensure your privacy with every message you send. It uses your already existing phone number, so there are no extra hoops to jump through like a new password or username.

We've used Slack for our in-company chatting for as long as I've worked at Android Central, and I was shocked to learn that Slack was available for regular users alongside its corporate use, but whether you just want to Slack your classmates with some choice gifs or need to talk to your boss about your schedule, Slack is awesome and I love it.

Discord is part IRC chat, part message board, and all awesome. It's aimed more at group chatting than individual chats, but it's available on just about any platform you can think of, it's easy to manage, share, and moderate, and its gamer-centric focus has made it a very, very responsive service that's quick to update and expand.

LINE might not be as popular in the West (yet), but this Japan-based service is one of the most popular in Asia, with over 600 million users and a whole suite of communication, payment, and gaming apps under the LINE name. LINE is well-made and easy to use, but it's been slow to spread in America, even with its nine adorable mascots.

Reports of Hangouts impending "death" are highly exaggerated, and while the classic Hangouts app might be sunset in a few years, the Hangouts service will continue with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, the latter of which we've been enjoying for our team meetings for months. Hangouts is still one of the easiest to adopt, since it uses your Google account.

Facebook has done some pretty despicable things in the last few years, but Facebook Messenger continues to be one of the more-used messenger apps around by the simple value of everyone and their grandmother having a Facebook account. It has some nice features, but it also has some annoying and invasive ones, too.

Snapchat may be better classified as a social media network, but Snapchat is based around messaging and millions fell in love with its self-deleting photos and ease of use as a way to trash talk frenemies, send pictures/videos that you don't want spreading around school, and of course its many selfie filters.