Alright! You’re logged into your new phone, Google Play is installing all your favorite apps and you’ve got your contacts and text messages synced over from your old phone. Time to really make your phone yours.
Setting a custom text tone for a specific contact or conversation may sound like dark sorcery, but it's a simple setting on most phones and it's not just useful to gossipy teens. Custom text tones are good for everyone, and here's how to use them.
Text messaging is a core component of a mobile phone's functionality. Android is blessed with many, many, many different apps to handle text messages for you, but as with any category of app. These are the best of the best to text your bestie with.
I don't like my default SMS app! How do I change it?
So you've accidentally deleted some text messages and want to know how to recover them. We'll show you how!
Which apps are worth using to stay in touch? We've got the scoop.
Google has announced that Google Voice users will be able to participate in group SMS thanks to the rollout of the all-new Hangouts 4.0. There are a couple of catches, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.
If you're having a hard time replying to text messages this morning and are being told you're trying to reply to an invalid number ... you're not alone. We're still diving into this a bit, but it looks like incoming text messages (and this appears to be localized on AT&T) are being appended with a +11 country code. Problem is there is no 11 country code, so the reply fails....
The weird and wacky saga of SMS on Android continues to get weird and wacky with today's release of the new Messenger app into Google Play. The free app handles SMS and MMS duties and only SMS and MMS duties, though with more than a bit of Material Design flair. First there was Messaging, Google Voice, and Google Chat; then there was only Hangouts, and now there's two again. So why a...
A month after Google announced it had added MMS support inside Google Voice for nearly all major wireless carriers in the US and Canada, it revealed today that the lone holdout, Verizon Wireless, has at last added MMS support to the app as well. In fact the support started last week. The news came from Google's Dylan Salisbury, who added that it was also now supporting native MMS...
Google has expanded carrier support for picture messaging over Google Voice. After working with carriers for support, users on 100 different North American carriers — including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus, and many more — should now be able to recieve MMS messages on their Google Voice number. There's no word on any carriers outside of North America mentioned...
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...
Going a step further on its fight against fraudulent premium SMS charges, T-Mobile will now start proactively notifying customers of unauthorized billing of premium SMS to their account. Although customers could previously request refunds for any unknown charge on their bill, this proactive approach of identifying premium SMS scams that weren't refunded goes a step further. Mike...
Starting today, you'll be able to send a text message to 911 in an emergency situation. The service will be supported by AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. Text 911 is only available in a small set of select cities to start, however it will be rolled out everywhere by the end of 2014. Using the service is easy, just send a new text message to 911 with the details of your...
If you happen to be on one of AT&T's Mobile Share plans and have friends, relatives, acquaintances, coworkers, or just people you want to message with that happen to live outside of the United States, then we've got good news: AT&T is making international messaging free on February 28th. In addition to the free messaging, AT&T is rolling out reduced international calling...
Stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld's been back on the prowl recently with his oddball and descriptively-titled Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, though his eponymous "show about nothing" has never been far from the public consciousness (see: iToilet and Google Wallet). Seinfeld himself showed up on The Tonight Show this week and he, as he's prone to do, talked about how we use our...
Option to send group messages to individual recipients also included Hangouts is making the subtle jump to version 2.0.2, bringing fixes for the way the messaging app handles MMS. Although the issues haven't necessarily been widespread, many who have updated to the latest Hangouts and began using it for text messaging have been running into issues sending and receiving MMS. While this...
Samsung's IM app can take over SMS and MMS duties, but only in a couple of countries for the moment Hot on the heels of Google Hangouts growing SMS and MMS support, Samsung's ChatON messaging app has also been updated with the ability to serve as your sole SMS and MMS app. The new feature, which at present is only live in Germany and Brazil, combines text conversations with ChatON...
![T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint take stance against fraudulent premium SMS charges [update]](https://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/styles/w300h225crop/public/postimages/444537/hangouts-sms-option.jpg?itok=omGHnX7J)
Customers continue to have the option of requesting refunds for false charges Update: The Vermont Attorney General indicates that both AT&T and Sprint have also signed on to block all premium SMS charges aside from donations, although the carriers have not released official statements on the matter. Original story: T-Mobile published a support FAQ today indicating that the carrier...
Still no outgoing MMS support, but it's a step in the right direction Google announced that full MMS support will hit Google Voice in early 2014, but it has made at least one small step towards that goal today by adding T-Mobile MMS receive support. Just as has (theoretically) been the case with Sprint for some time now, Google Voice users receiving an MMS from a T-Mobile customer will...