5 Best Android Messaging Apps in 2024
The best android messaging app stock on many smartphones just aren’t up to par sometimes. With Samsung phones, often the messaging app will error out and put you in a continuous loop of errors, unable to receive or read your text messages. LG has had this problem before as well, and some phones just don’t have a quality-looking messaging application. Luckily, and not many people are aware of this, but there are third-party applications available for free that have fewer problems, and often, even look better — design-wise — than what a manufacturer puts out. You can get these for free off of the Google Play Store — there are countless best android messaging app options available. So, what do you pick?
Best Android Messaging Apps
1) Telegram
Telegram is another Android Messaging application that has been around for some time. The app actually bills itself as one of the fastest messaging apps on the Play Store right now. It’s designed as a simple and lightweight application, getting right back to the heart of text messaging — interacting with friends and family. There are some powerful features in Telegram that take your messaging to the next level, such as support for GIFs, stickers, and photo editing. There’s even file sharing and end-to-end encryption for secure text messaging.
Download it now: Google Play
2) WhatsApp
If you’ve have Android for any time at all, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of WhatsApp before, the Android messaging app that Facebook recently purchased. WhatsApp is insanely popular, with downloads reaching into over a billion on the Google Play Store alone. It’s a free messaging app, with support for SMS (it can replace your stock SMS app), calls, voice messages, sending photo and video back and forth, etc. Calls are free of charge. and there’s even support for group messaging that works really well. One neat thing about WhatsApp is that in addition to calls being free of charge, WhatsApp doesn’t charge for international calls either, so you can stay in touch with your friends abroad, whereas you’d get charged on your phone bill for your stock SMS app.
Download it now: Google Play
3) Signal
If you want security out of your text messaging, then you might want to look at Signal. With end-to-end encryption support, you can be sure that you’re getting the utmost privacy out of Signal. In addition to its superior security features, Signal supports all of the regular Android messaging features as well — video chat, voice calls, group messages, and more. The main attraction to this messaging app is certainly the security features, but Signal also supports a really nice material design, too.
Download it now: Google Play
4) GroupMe
GroupMe is an Android messaging app owned by Microsoft. As the name implies, GroupMe does group messages, and it does them really well. If you don’t want to group message, that’s fine as well: GroupMe does one on one messaging really well, too. In typical Microsoft fashion, GroupMe does have a few productivity features in it, such as a Calendar. You can find all of your regular messaging features in there as well though — GIF support, extra emojis, meme support, and so much more.
Download it now: Google Play
5) Google Allo
Google Allo launched last year to much excitement, as well as to a lot of disappointment. Google dubbed it as its new messaging app, but it was nowhere near ready for prime time. A year later, Google Allo has been through tons of improvements. It still doesn’t have SMS, but you can still text Android users by way of Android Messaging, with messages being routed through Google’s servers.
Overall, it’s actually a really great messaging app, featuring all sorts of stickers and features to better communicate with your friends. It actually has some nice synergy with Google Assistant, so you can easily look for restaurants or events to hang out with your friends at within your Allo conversations.
Verdict on the Best Android Messaging Apps
There are tons of quality Android messaging apps available on the Google Play Store. Here, we just touched on some of the best ones, but there are countless others worth mentioning, such as Facebook Messenger, Kik, Line, and so many more. If you’re looking for just one to take for a spin, we recommend going with WhatsApp. WhatsApp has tons of text messaging features available and even lets you stay in touch with friends abroad without any cost. Though, if you’re looking to get some more security out of your text messaging, you can’t go wrong with Signal.