Pushbullet, EvolveSMS bring Motorola Connect-like feature to all Androids

By Chuong H Nguyen
last updated

Pushbullet and EvolveSMS are teaming up to allow users to view and reply to text messages on their Android phone from their PCs. The software are both in beta right now so it's not quite fully baked yet, but the promise behind this partnership is similar to what Motorola had delivered on the Moto X with the Motorola Connect suite. Rather than having to reach for your phone to see and then peck on a tiny keyboard to respond to messages, you can now see and reply using your PC.

You'll need to follow the instructions in the Google+ announcement if you want to take part in the beta. This requires a few steps. Essentially, you'll want to join the Google+ beta community for both EvolveSMS and for Pushbullet, then apply to be a beta tester for both apps through the Google Play store, and lastly download both apps. You'll also need the PushBullet Chrome extension, which allows notifications on your phone to show up on your PC desktop.

Is this something that you would want built into your next phone? Do you find this setup useful? Let us know how everything works out for you.

Source: Google+

Chuong H Nguyen
Chuong H Nguyen
58 Comments
  • I think evolve should work on making a product that isn't bug ridden.. I've tried it 6 times and EVERY time it locks my phone up.
  • Evidently you ignored the bit about this being in its beta stage. Posted via Android Central App
  • Just because it's beta doesn't mean it has to be buggy.
  • Uhhh That's exactly what it means. Stop complaining.
  • I'm dealing with morons. How was I comparing you stupid idiot?
  • He said stop COMPLAINING, not comparing. And I'm pretty sure you were complaining... just sayin'...
  • What did I say that had any hint of complaining? I was starting a fact. Why you ask? Because I've tried beta apps and never had any issues with them. It's ironic my auto-correct put comparing instead of complaining because that's actually what I was doing. By the way, why did you edit your comment to not include the definitions of comparing and complaining? Lol
  • Ummm.. I don't think you understand what beta means..
  • I was talking about the messaging app not this new service... Posted via Android Central App
  • I think tonymhoffman was referring to the EvolveSMS app itself (NOT EvolveSMS+Pushbullet). And I'd have to agree with him. I LOVE the design of the EvolveSMS, I LOVE the features.... it's just that it's buggy for me. I bought it and all the extras and redownload and test it every other month hoping that it won't be buggy, but it always is. I like EvolveSMS (design-wise) more than HelloSMS or GO SMS, but I ride with GO SMS simply because has the features I like just like Evolve, and most importantly it just works.
  • This ^^ Posted via my sixth Sense HTC M8
  • Agreed here. The only issue I've had with Evolve is MMS, and even today it still doesn't work right. Textra is perfect for me.
  • Would have to also agree with this. Evolve needs to quite adding features and work on getting their app out of beta.
  • I don't notice any bugs. It can sometimes be a little slow to open on my Moto G but no problems apart from that
  • I agree. I've been using Evolve since the beginning of this year. I too bought all the extras. But my lord is it buggy! I really don't want to go to another SMS app. I switched from GO SMS to Hangouts to Hello to Textra and finally to Evolve. I like evolve better than the rest because of the features and customization. But I may go back to Textra or Go SMS if the bugs don't stop. The most annoying bug is when I am typing a message and my the screen rotates, the friggin message disappears and it says "draft found, tap ok to load" or something like that. That is the single most annoying thing to me about the app.
  • PushBullet is pretty cool already. It doesn't fully compare to Airdroid, but it's still useful. Posted via Android Central App
  • True. But AirDroid requires that you be on the same WiFi network as your device, which means I can't use it at work.
  • If you haven't tried trakt,sickbeard, or couchpotato, you're not getting the most out of pushbullet.
  • Need something like this that allows me to send SMS/MMS from my tablet. There are a few 3rd party apps out there but none seem to work well. Only thing I miss about being on VZ is being able to use their SMS/MMS app on my tablet. Posted via Android Central App
  • The Verizon Messages+ app is pretty good. Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)
  • Yup, I wish T-Mobile had a similar app of their own. Posted via Android Central App
  • Yep, wish Verizon farmed out the message + team to work on other clunky Verizon apps namely their data usage app Its actually harder than it appears. I make it look easy.
  • TabletSMS works fairly well for me to do this.
  • Mighty text has worked wonders for me
  • Thanks for the tip! Saying "adios" to Pushbullet as we speak.
  • Agreed, Might text works not only on my computer, but also both tablets. Does not matter which one I am in front of, I can respond. And it works every time (at least for me).
  • I like Mighty Text too. But the duplicate notifications on my computer are a little annoying
  • Try mighty text Posted via Android Central App
  • MightyText is definitely good for pairing your PC and phone. I believe it also allows phone-tablet connections. You can also use TabletSMS, which is flawless. I can text from my tablet using my phone's connection.
  • MightyText works really well, and allows some of the stuff that push bullet does, like sending web pages, etc. You can hook to it from both PC and tablet...
  • Good feature. I use Motorola Connect everyday. Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)
  • Alright the only product to be used for this is Mighty Text. It works with tablets and it works from chrome and Firefox. The free version is feature filled and even stores MMS in the cloud!
  • I second the vote for MightyText. I have been an avid user for over a year with no problems. I too tried Evolve SMS but never got it to work how I wanted.
  • Evolvesms needs to work on sending pic attachments. I select them from the gallery, choose evolvesms to share/send them... and nothing gets sent. Also this connect like feature has been available for awhile using AirDroid.
    Posted via Android Central App
  • A third vote for mighty text. You can see phone calls coming in as well as monitor phone battery level and charging state. Posted via Android Central App
  • You can add my vote for MightyText.
  • Idk. I use mighty text to reply on pc for text messages sent to phone.
  • I don't use SMS that much, I wish there'd be a way to reply to WhatsApp messages with PushBullet Posted via Android Central App
  • Or perhaps you wish there was a seamless WhatsApp client for desktop. Seems like Hangouts and iMessage are the only clients that do this by design.
  • wish we could just text through hangouts online and have all of our msgs sync to the web..
  • +1
  • How is this better that mighty text? Posted via Android Central App
  • Add this function to Hangouts..! Posted via Android Central App
  • Looks good. I use Mighty Text right now, and it's fine. A little weird when you send a group message though. My ideal fix to the problem of texts not being viewable on a tablet or PC would be for people to just use a full-featured IM like Hangouts/Google Talk. Of course, with a new Whatsapp-type solution being launched almost daily, it won't take off if you have to have every possible app your friends might have. There would need to be interoperability (just like how a Yahoo email user can still write to a Gmail user without signing up for a Gmail account!) My second ideal solution would be for Hangouts to simply copy SMS across devices. If Hangouts on my Android sees an SMS come in, it should display it in Hangouts on the web. But, I probably won't get my way with either of those concepts.
  • VZW Message+ works great across all my devices. MMS works great. All other SMS apps are very buggy with MMS for me anyways... But of course you need to be a VZW customer to use it... Which I am so... Posted via Android Central app
  • Mighty text is my hands down favorite SMS and MMS extension in chrome Posted via Android Central App
  • And Google STILL can't implement something like this in Hangouts!
  • +1 for MightText as well.. I feel like this app doesn't get enough and enough people don't know about it. It's so sweet.
  • Um you can already do this with mightytext...I use pushbullet as well for notifications other than sms (get those too) but mightytext works great (does more than just text).... man everyone beat me to mentioning mightytext....
  • MySMS anyone?
  • +1. MySMS works perfectly as well.
  • Just an FYI to people that moto connect although great and I used it a lot started to destroy my battery when I was doing heavy texting or trying to use the chrome app when my phone was in a low signal strength area. I mean destroy too. It takes a lot to loose a full droid Maxx in 6 hours. Posted via Android Central App
  • And just to clarify this shouldn't be an issue because I have to believe hangouts will add this functionality now that i message has it. Posted via Android Central App
  • Evn wit a kybrd many peeps will still typ <3 dis. I don't have a use for it personally. Always have my phone and can type on its keyboard just fine. Killed Chrome access at work, unfortunately, but chrome2phone extension still works great on Firefox (sends it to chrome on my phone of course). Maybe they'll add their extension to Firefox and I'll try it out to see if I'm wrong. Cool story, I know. Nobody at work cares about Chrome to b*tch about it : /
  • I have been using MyPhoneExplorer for years now. http://www.fjsoft.at/en/
    I had it on my very first smart phone and it has worked flawlessly. Not sure how Pushbullet and Moto Connect could improve upon FJ's near perfect program and app combo
  • I'm using mighty text to do this Posted via Android Central App
  • I have been loving EvolveSMS. There's an occasional glitch, but nothing that prevents its use. Its been working great! I also use pushbullet. The combo might be interesting... Posted via Android Central App
  • Hi, Does MightyText not already do much of this function?