Handcent Next SMS messenger

Handcent

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Upgrade your messaging experience. Enjoy unlimited customization, AI features, cloud backup, MMS Plus , upmost privacy, and smooth texting on PC and tablet. It is the perfect alternative to stock SMS text messenger and Verizon Messages+

Secure and private messenger
Best SMS app with personalization
AI capabilities - powered by OpenAI to make texting easier
Encrypted chat - Reliable guard to keep texts safe
Texting from any system/device with 'Anywhere'
Cloud backup - never worry about long texts again
Lots of Stickers, emojis, and gifs to choose from
Wear OS device support(Dependent on phone app)
Group or mass texts to multiple recipients
Support for foldables, like Samsung fold
Support for most android versions (4.4 to 13) and Lineage OS 19
Dual SIM support

Security

For every update, it'll be scanned with *VirualTotal* 60+ mainstream anti-virus engines to make sure it's safe. Protecting data privacy is our top priority.
Conversations now can be encrypted as per your need

AI features

-Detects sensitive information and suggests masking options.
-Extract, copy, search, and share text from images
-Generate descriptive text for photos
-Summary of recent conversations
-Grammar & Spell Check: Ensure your messages are clear and error-free
-AI Emoji Suggestions
-AI Auto-Reply

Messenger Customization

The theme store offers over 200 themes with new ones updated weekly.
You can personalize fonts, stickers, colors, ringtones, LED colors, vibration patterns, etc.

Handcent Anywhere - best private texting on computer and tablet.

Cross-platform texting on all systems and device. Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, android, computers, tablets, and smartwatches all have separate apps. You can text anywhere without the phone.
Go to aw.handcent.com and start messaging. Group text is also supported

Wear OS

Receive and reply messages on all android-based smartwatches, with the features like voice to text, etc.
Support Wear OS , Galaxy Watch series with Tizen and both square and round watches(Phone app needed, doesn't work as a standalone app)

MMS

MMS is fast and stable, can receive all kinds of MMS messages and share full-size multimedia with MMS plus.
MMS plus can act as a multimedia files downloader, and save them on the private cloud.

Pop up text

Quick reply text messages within a pop up window.

Private Box

An encrypted text message box that can only be opened by unique passcode. Texts within can only be viewed by yourself.

SMS Backup

Never worry about losing texts or messages with our backup service. Restore all private messages (SMS/MMS) and settings when you switch to a new phone or reset the phone.

Search

You can search text messages by time, message type and etc.
All SMS messages with text are searchable

SMS Blocker/Blacklisting

Block all unwanted or spam SMS & MMS messages in our private android text messaging app.

Spam filter

Automatically filter and block potential spam messages

Scheduled Task

Schedule texts to be sent at a given time.

Emoji

You will love animated emojis that complies with the newest emoji standard.

Stickers

Integrated with Giphy. Send messages with stickers by using quick search.

Drive mode

Read texts or mute during drive to ensure driving safety with Android Auto support

Text to Speech

Read texts out loud with support for repeated reminder

Sticky on top

Pin your private contacts on top for quicker access

Other improvements.
Built-in ChatGPT to let you talk to AI as a conversation thread
Group Messaging Chat: Create a group with friends, all contacts will receive the message. Send mass texts with stickers to all members.

Other features: Bulk Mass SMS & MMS, group text, text snippets and etc.

If you encounter any problems or need help, please reach us at [e-mail]. We will provide help in a timely manner.

Ratings and reviews

All that's keeping me from giving five stars is the lack of a quick way to mute a conversation (eg, have the option "Mute Conversation" when you hit the three dots) so I can do that easily during business meetings or elsewhere when I don't want to be disturbed by an active conversation. It can be done, but it must be searched for, which isn't desirable under the circumstances when I want to mute them.

I really like the app as a replacement for Verizon Messages+ which was recently shut down. I used Handcent about 15 years ago when it first came out and was happy to see it's still around and has a lot of the same functionality. The options are vast and can be a little confusing so I suggest you take time looking at all of the settings to really take advantage of all the options like group messages, scheduled messages, themes, AI chat, message templates, etc.

This has good customizable features, but it's clunky to set up. I could live with that, but when sending pics or videos, it sometimes just sends them and other times sends a link that recipients have to click on to get the media, which is sketchy and annoying. And now, over the last month or so, it randomly starts playing creepy Candy Crush music that you can't turn off unless you silence your phone or completely quit the app. Super frustrating when you're trying to text. I'm uninstalling.

What’s new

Improve the sync speed when phone and watch connect remotely

Update UI to meet the new requirement