August 7th, 2019 | Updated on June 28th, 2022
You have a group of friends and there is an urgent message to send to all of them. Or maybe there is an office group which needs to be conveyed about an important task pending.
Yes there is an alternative to handling this kind of problems too easily. You can opt for a group text messaging app which would connect the entire set of people together and help you make the move.
But which tool to trust with this job is a question that is yet to be answered. To help in making the choice we present the 10 best group text messaging apps that you can rely on.
We have analysed each one of them and presented the benefits and features of each. You can go through the same and figure out which one of them would be the best suited for your requirement.
A comparison between two or more can also be done to find out one which is the most apt.
1. GroupMe
GroupMe is the best way to chat with everyone you know. It’s absolutely free, whether you’re talking to a group of friends, or texting with one person. Best of all, it works on nearly every phone, via push or SMS. With GroupMe, it’s easy to reach anyone, anytime, anywhere.
GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci in the Summer of 2010, inspired by a project conceived at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon.
Review: life hacker
Available for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and even non-smartphones, GroupMe is the Swiss Army knife of group texting and communication apps.
Download the app, sign up for an account, and enjoy the ability to send texts to and start conference calls with multiple people in your contacts, or even from Twitter and Facebook.
Plus, you can add your location or photos to any message you send. Plus, it’s free.
2. WhatsApp
WhatsApp Messenger is a FREE messaging app available for Android and other smartphones. WhatsApp uses your phone’s Internet connection (4G/3G/2G/EDGE or Wi-Fi, as available) to let you message and call friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, calls, photos, videos, documents, and Voice Messages.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: PlayStore
this app is very usefull, nice and interesting. my advice, if this app has an update, make sure the menu position does not change.
I just auto exit group and report one of my group just because the clear chat menu position is change with report menu.
When you always clear your chat…then this app change the position…It will be a problem to users that have set in mind the menu position and how many steps to clear the chat if this app changes the position of the menu.
3. Google Hangouts
Use Hangouts to keep in touch. Message contacts, start free video or voice calls, and hop on a conversation with one person or a group.
- Include all your contacts with group chats for up to 150 people.
- Say more with status messages, photos, videos, maps, emoji, stickers, and animated GIFs.
- Turn any conversation into a free group video call with up to 10 contacts.
- Call any phone number in the world (and all calls to other Hangouts users are free!).
- Connect your Google Voice account for phone calling, SMS texting, and voicemail integration.
- Keep in touch with contacts across Android, iOS, and the web, and sync chats across all your devices.
- Message contacts anytime, even if they’re offline.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: Capterra
Pros: The fact that Google Hangouts is free is fantastic! It’s also not necessary to provide a phone number in order to use Hangouts which makes it useful when communicating with clients online and want to maintain your privacy.
As long as you have a Google account you can use Hangouts through the Gmail username. When using it through your email (not texting with a Google Voice number) you can also see when the other person has seen your message.
A very useful feature. When using Hangouts for texting using a Google voice number you can’t see when the recipient views the message but it’s a small price to pay to have the option to text from your computer.
Hangouts is also available as an app on the phone and using the Google voice number provides some privacy as you don’t need to give out your personal phone number in order to text.
Cons: There isn’t very much that I dislike about Hangouts. There are only a couple things and they are minor. 1. I wish you could see when a person received your text when messaging a phone number. 2. I wish it was easier to see the time and date of past messages on the computer. 3. I wish you could send more than one picture at a time when using the computer.
Overall: Overall I have had a very positive experience using Hangouts. It’s wonderful as an individual and works perfectly for my business as well.
I need to be able to have private chats with clients and this makes it easy to stay connected without providing my personal phone number.
4. Blackberry Messenger (BBM)
BBM® Enterprise is a secure mobile, cross-platform, messaging and collaboration tool. It provides the same user- friendly experience that’s earned BBM millions of fans worldwide – with the end-to-end security enterprise needs.
BBM Enterprise allows users to take advantage of the speed, reliability and privacy of BBM for a faster communication, collaboration and decision making while providing security-conscious organizations enhanced security over corporate data.
BBM Enterprise is the ideal business communication tool because it is mobile and immediate. Unlike enterprise IM tools that were originally designed for use on the desktop, BBM Enterprise offers a truly mobile experience, on a variety of devices.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: engadget
BBM brings friends and family together. You can have fun with features like picture sharing, voice calls, and voice notes. The app can be downloaded for free on Android, iPhone, and Blackberry. In the past, only Blackberry users had access to the messaging application.
BBM has unique features that protect the privacy of the users. For instance, users can take back their photos and messages after sending them. It has a timer that determines how long a photo or message can be viewed before it disappears.
5. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is your hub for teamwork in Office 365. All your team conversations, files, meetings, and apps live together in a single shared workspace, and you can take it with you on your favorite mobile device. Whether you’re sprinting towards a deadline or sharing your next big idea, Teams can help you achieve more.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: iTunes
Overall Teams is a decent collaboration tool. When using it without being used to other competitors’ methods of working then Teams is intuitive and nice.
When comparing it to Slack, then Teams takes one step forward and two backwards. But not all is hopeless! The service simply needs a handful of features and UI enhancements to improve. In terms of the iOS app, here’s some quick updates:
1. When I get notifications on multiple devices, they should dismiss from all devices once I’ve acknowledged it on any of the devices. Right now when I read something on my phone, the Mac app keeps the badge notifications. The inverse is also true. This is rather annoying.
2. More granular notifications. I don’t want to see a notification for certain channels in a team, even if a channel command is used. The lack of a mute function is unbearable.
3. Dark Mode. It’s 2018 and I don’t want to stare at a bright background in the evenings. Please give the option to enable a dark mode to save our eyesight and battery life (for OLED screens).
6. Telegram
Pure instant messaging — simple, fast, secure, and synced across all your devices. Over 100 million active users in two and a half years.
Fast: Telegram is the fastest messaging app on the market, connecting people via a unique, distributed network of data centers around the globe.
Synced: You can access your messages from all your devices at once. Start typing on your phone and finish the message from your tablet or laptop. Never lose your data again.
Unlimited: You can send media and files, without any limits on their type and size. Your entire chat history will require no disk space on your device, and will be securely stored in the Telegram cloud for as long as you need it.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: Capterra
Comments: Telegram has a very comfortable and friendly interface, is easy to use and has nothing to envy to other instant messaging services.
Telegram is an application that offers to keep us communicated with our friends, relatives, partners, employees or with any person in general as long as they also have the application.
One of the things that has been most useful to me is to be able to have several telegram accounts in the same device and this is something that not all messaging can offer us.
Pros: Telegram is a free and safe fast messaging application. In addition to having no space limit for multimedia files or chats. Allows access to messages from several different devices.
It allows third-party applications to connect with the network and this has as a consequence that there are unofficial clients such as the Windows, Mac, Linux and web versions.
One of the best things about Telegram is that there is no intention to offer advertisements and also offers bots or applications programmed to perform commands.
Cons: One of the most influential negative aspects is that this application does not have video calls, which makes its competitors look more attractive.
On the other hand, it does not hide the last hour of connection, this fact is a very requested aspect since for our convenience the majority of its users prefer not to show the last hour of connection.
And finally, Telegram does not allow the information or status message to be established, which for the personal is very important because when entering a meeting I want my contacts to know that I am not available.
7. WeChat
WeChat is more than a messaging and social media app – it is a lifestyle for one billion users across the world. Chat and make calls with friends, read news and use local services in Official Accounts and Mini Programs, play games with friends, enjoy mobile payment features with WeChat Pay, and much more.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: PlayStore
Horrible experience!!! If I could give it a negative 5 stars I would. I downloaded this app and set it up right after I set it up it blocked my account.
I have never used this app and to make things worse I have no friends that have this app to get it unblocked. I contacted the customer service and of course, I got no reply checked today and still blocked.
If I had some way to unblock I could try this app out and actually give it an honest rating. Can’t do that if I haven’t even tried it once.
8. Discord
Welcome to Discord, the best cross-platform chat app for text, video, and voice comms designed specifically for gamers. We’re used by over 250 million gamers around the world.
Create secure chat channels to play games with friends, organize squads, find teammates, LFG, and participate in gaming communities.
Whether you play Battle Royale or MOBA, FPS or RPG, or if you follow streamers or esports, you can easily start a group chat for everything you and your gaming clan want to talk about.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: tom’s guide
Discord (Android, iOS) has quickly become one of the best go-to apps for gamers looking to communicate and coordinate both in and out of game.
Featuring robust voice and text chat features, Discord allows users to create and join group servers and organize discussion around named text and voice channels for easily compartmentalizing discussion threads.
Users can engage in voice chat, send text and photo messages, and easily send invite links to servers for their contacts.
While the service is free, Discord also features a premium Nitro subscription for $4.99 a month that provides premium features like animated avatars, custom emoji and expanded upload limits for photos and files.
9. LINE
LINE reshapes communication around the globe, bringing you closer to your family, friends, and loved ones—for free. With voice and video calls, messages, and a limitless variety of exciting stickers, you’ll be able to express yourself in ways that you’ve never thought possible.
With over 600 million users worldwide, LINE’s constantly expanding platform will continue to provide exciting new experiences and convenience.
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: Lifewire
is a text messaging and voice calling app that adds a social entertainment layer with its networking and gaming features.
Use LINE for free one-on-one and group chats with any of your friends anywhere. Call your friends and family as often as you want with free voice and video calls available domestically and internationally.
The LINE app also includes a collection of quirky and charming cartoon characters and stickers designed to make communications more fun.
10.Snapchat
Snapchat opens right to the camera, so you can send a Snap in seconds! Just take a photo or video, add a caption, and send it to your best friends and family. Express yourself with Filters, Lenses, Bitmojis, and all kinds of fun effects.
- Snapchat opens right to the camera. Tap to take a photo, or press and hold for video.
- Add a Lens or Filter to your photo — new ones are added every day! Change the way you look, dance with your 3D Bitmoji, and discover games you can play with your face.
- Create your own Filters to add to photos and videos — or try out Lenses made by our community!
Download on iTunes | Download on Google Play
Review: Cnet
Social network Snapchat made a name for itself by letting you share photos and videos that self-destruct in just a few seconds. That is, the app lets you impose a finite lifespan on your shares so they can be viewed for only a few seconds before being automatically deleted beyond retrieval.
While there’s certainly an argument that the seconds-long lifespan aspect is useless, Snapchat’s immense popularity, especially with teenagers and young adults, suggests otherwise.
Apparently, there are a lot of people out there who love the idea of sending out secret photos and videos, without leaving any evidence of ever having done so.
Just be warned that, despite Snapchat’s best efforts, there are ways for others to save what you send them, either using an app or just by snapping a screenshot.
