Many chat applications exist. Meta alone has three: best all in one messaging app, Whatsapp and Instagram. But he threw in standard texting like SMS and iMessage, “secure” apps like Signal, work apps like Slack, and let us not forget about offbeat apps like Discord and X-formerly-Twitter. The scenario just becomes a farce. But picture what would happen if you have just one single app where you could message your friends, family, colleagues at work, and all your contacts? That’s where you need just one app that will support all universal texts.
Actually, messaging apps have been all over the place.Apps that appeared in the late 2000s, such as Adium and Pidgin, supported many protocols—XMPP, IRC, and Bonjour—used by the big-name services of that era, like Google Talk and iChat, and also supported other messaging platforms like AIM. One might call it the golden age of interoperability antecedents. However, this all changed when proprietary services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger gained popularity.
It is true that the proprietary applications were easier to install and they were much great to use, especially if you have a smartphone. But on the other hand, they lacked the convenience of having a single-app-does-everything- you-may-chat-to-anyone messaging app.
Luckily, unified messaging apps are coming back to the scene. It now seems that some technologies is changing, more widely available web applications, and a little bit EU law-making to draw us to the new era of messaging app interoperability. And though the messaging world isn’t quite perfect, there are still several worthy universal messaging apps that you should consider.
(Seeing my today’s short history lesson I have been messaging systems for so long, the SMS charging was 10 cents per message.) In addition, I have been blogging about online communication tools over at least a decade. This is one of those issues that I am very much interested, and I would love the great old days to come back again.
What makes a great universal texting app?
It is extremely easy to get the text best all in one messaging app and other types of universal texting wrong. There’s no point of creating a few different web apps that don’t have a good looking user interface and then claiming that it is an best all in one messaging app. Let us be honest here: it is easier because you don’t have to load the browser to go to the web apps on your iPad or switch between different applications on your smartphone, but the experience is not better, and it’s definitely not what I’m looking for here.
Instead, I was looking for universal texting apps that:Instead, I was looking for universal texting apps that:
- Establish an app that would enable all people using different popular messaging services to communicate with each other in one place. On these grounds, then, the decision does not allow apps that just connect Meta’s three messaging apps, in particular, and furthermore, no support for Adium, which still exists, though, it does not correspond with the top messaging platforms.
- Have a universal inbox. Consolidated into one inbox would be all your messages, through the platform the person contacted you and you replied to. One of the hardest things was locating apps that addressed this criteria, because there seems to be numerous apps that labeled themselves as “universal texting apps”, yet these apps only provide tabs to see messages from a different service, not all at once.
- [Present a new notification type] For every service—and give you some kind of control over it. On the job you would like to see Slack messages from colleagues but also have to be able to mute WhatsApp that won’t shut up .
- Are nice to use. Perhaps, I am the one with rose-colored glasses as far as the previous generation of chat apps is concerned, but that doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t be in the present situation where you have to use what I have deemed to be an ugly and bad app. The GUI is what I crave the most, and I need things like keyboard shortcuts, or a user experience that is pleasing the eye and quality is on the highest level.
- Are security conscious. Whenever you add a stand in to the rules of communication, you are increasing a percentage of vulnerabilities. It is just an undeniably truth that highly security apps will always be the safest; on the other hand, universal messaging apps add a lot of advantage. All of the apps at least had to admit this trade-off and explain what they were doing for this cause. If your goal is to become an improper whistleblower in an authoritarian government, then I wouldn’t suggest any of the apps on this list. However, the majority of people can use them easily.
I just tried the available apps through their use. I sent a hundred-odd to five thousand messages a day, so I logged in few of my accounts and have communications with friends and my collaborators.
Take a look at this list: I am, unfortunately, not very much satisfied with the current apps and they don’t qualify for the optimal user experience that I require. Though there were a number of them that made the shortlist, there were two that I liked very much. This, I present as my full-fledged messaging app recommendation list.
The best free all-in-one messaging app
Beeper (Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, Android)
Beeper pros:
- Free
- Has mobile versions
Beeper cons:
- Free may or may not be now.
Beeper is known for its most endeavoured option to port iMessage to Android based smartphones. Apple isn’t happy with it all and squashed bugs that Beeper was using effectively, but other services were even less belligerent.
At the moment we support Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp including Instagram (Ig) accounts, best all in one messaging app, Telegram, Signal and Google Chat, Slack, IRC, Discord, LinkedIn, Matrix which is an interoperable best all in one messaging app protocol, Beeper chat, and Android SMS. The happening of iMessage support has been scrapped. If it meets your expectations for now, cool, but there’s no guarantee that they will fix/help you in case something breaks (which probably happens in the majority of cases).
Beeper may be new but it does a lot of what you would need an instant messaging (IM) universal app to do.
You receive a unified mailbox for all your messages, enabling you to search across all your chats on any service with a single command. You gain detailed control over muting and alerts, whether they come from individual chats or include incoming messages that mention your name. Additionally, the system operates quickly, boasts an attractive interface, and is user-friendly. Moreover, you have the ability to pin specific chats to the top of your inbox or set time limits for sending messages, and it synchronizes across different platforms through a secure backup.In short, it gives you an unprecedented level of control over all the conversations you have within one space, and you do that without compromising on the security of your messages.
Beeper is free for a short period of time only but it is likely that the model will be payable soon.
The hiring site states that the company plans to generate $10/month in revenue per user by charging for premium services. While it’s uncertain at this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if the company decides to scale back the offerings of our free plan. For example, they might limit the number of services you can use or restrict it to just one device.
Beeper pricing: But they are free (for the current time).
The best universal text app for power users
Texts (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Texts pros:
- An incredibly powerful one-device-does-all SMS app.
- You can run it through commands only with keyboard shortcuts.
Texts cons:
- Tag on it a price tag that matches it.
- No mobile apps yet
Messages, it belongs those who like to chat much. It is targeted for those very console users and even the price is accordingly. Yet, we are racing ahead of the story.
It is possible to synch WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, X-Formerly Twitter, Telegram, Signal Slack, Discord, LinkedIn, and iMessage as well as SMS via this app, but this is only on a Mac. Your messaging is stored in a universal inbox, you can search all your messages in every connected service at once, and it is simply fantastic in the way it meets the basics. No one including us has access to your conversations as the messages are never sent to Texts’ servers.
The Texts Editor differs greatly in terms of the sophistication of its feature set. It works with keyboard shortcuts only and you can customize the whole interface with CSS.
You also have the option to schedule messages for later sending, utilize the back inbox feature, create quick replies, and use the AI-based sidebar that rephrases the last few messages in a thread and suggests replies. It honestly surprised me that you could limit mute and schedule notifications only by service or thread, not by keyword or time of day. (Now I know how different it can be to work with a new manager and how in a few months everything can change).
As a major disadvantage, the texts is rather high-priced. It is for two services on any platform, one without cost. However, in case you would like to link all your messaging services and benefit from the app which will be launched for iOS, you will need to pay for $15 Premium plan per month. If you are generally a regular guy, and your job title is usually “office grunt assistant”, you could probably justify sending a lot of those chat messages, but if you only message your friends or family, it’s a pretty big ask.
To this side is that there is no present mobile app There is an iOS app in beta, and Android one is in the works, however, they are unfortunately not available for use. Many text conversations happen on smart phones, a little bit annoying.
Texts pricing: 2 services and 1 platform are free of charge; for $15 per month, you can get Personal use, connecting up to 15 accounts, and using AI features.
Why universal texting apps are hard to build
Universals texting apps are not easily built over the past decade because Apple, Meta, and Google want to lock users on their platforms and have got very controlled incentives to open up things. Before, messaging apps that had open protocols and standards could update automatically to communicate with different messaging protocols, while once private messaging services became dominant, it was impossible to create tools or application program interfaces (API).
Nevertheless, it is over the last year or so, that some fundamental issues have emerged. Some of the big ones are:Some of the big ones are:
- Most of the end-to-end encrypted messaging apps provide web apps with the link possible, so Beeper and Texts have a way to access those apps.
- And, the Digital Markets Act of the EU has been legalized, which enforce large messaging apps to interoperabilize with other messaging apps. Obviously, it doesn’t let us send the iMessage from iPhone to the WhatsApp on Android right now, but it has expanded the scope of the discussion around walled-gardened proprietary messaging services.
- Beeper and Their Team have put in dozens of millions in building the universal messaging apps and they nearly succeeded.
Other all-in-one messaging platforms
The Beeper and Text are the obvious here but there are other apps you can use to simultaneously pour out text messaging apps ugly-ish window if the desire is there. Some of the options are:Some of the options are:
- Adium and Pidgin are still there if IRC’s the thing and open source/nostalgic propensities are what you like.
- Franz and All-in-One give you the option to open multiple messaging app web pages in the same window or tab.
- Shift, Rambox, and Station go even beyond and open unlimited web apps in the same window. They’ve been a little bit dressed up and turned in to something bigger.
However, it is only a question of choice ; we can use Beeper, Texts, or a bunch of other individual applications.
Automate your SMS messaging
By using SMS Zing, you can drive your texting automation, for example, getting SMS alerts for upcoming calendar events. Let’s begin with one of the next work flows.
