Reviews for Handcent Next SMS messenger

I’ve sent various debug reports and engaged in the back and forth via email about group chats and there was a glimmer of hope when I saw a recent update. well… no. the issue persists. the symptom: group chats (especially heavy traffic ones) would result in messages simply not downloading. couldn’t even trigger a manual […]

UPDATE: I paid for the Ad removal and STILL get Ads. The Ads stopped for just a little while. My messages are disappearing and not sending after writing them, I’m NOT receiving messages from people who have been texting me. I’m VERY frustrated and considering going back to my old texting app that is FREE. […]

This is a great app. I like how you can customize the background and fonts for individual contacts. Also one that you can have a different color LED notification settings per contact. 5/15/25 Update : Still using this app because it’s great! One thing I would like to see is a way to dim/lighten the […]

I recently had a problem with Sending my texts, and having them Sent to/Delivered/Received by the intended recipient. I contacted the Handcent Support Team, and they were very quick to respond to my complaint, and kept pursuing it until they fixed the problem. They suggested I install the latest Version 11.5.3, and that seemed to […]

I am a paid user and IT professional. Been using this app for years and it’s been great. All of a sudden, something has gone very wrong. They forced a “reorganization” of some sort. now there are messages missing, messages in the wrong folders, etc., it’s a mess. Tech support has been no help. really […]

Great app for me. I have set up several groups and mark them as fav so they stay at the top which is a nice feature. One improvement i would make is when I am looking to text a new person in my contacts, it brings up their email address as well as their phone…..I […]

lots of glitches. I got this app because group chats didn’t work well. Group chat works fine. Here’s the problems. the layout is confusing. I wish the app just used gallery but it uses file explorer which is confusing. It only lets you send 5 second videos without paying to upgrade. I have a massive […]

This is, by far, the best SMS app out there. So customizable AND it lets me schedule delivery! Love it!!! UPDATE: My texts were coming back with the message “message blocking is active”, I immediately emailed Handecent and told them what was happening before I realized that it was because I unknowingly was past due […]

Good app, and it does support attaching more than one file (such as two or more pics, gifs, audio, stickers, etc, or a combination thereof) at the text entry input box when composing a message. My previous posted comments suggested this wasn’t possible, but I was incorrect. The app is still 5 stars, and customer […]

I’ve used Handcent for years without problems, and it’s quite good… there’s actually TOO many options, which is great for customisers like myself. But I can’t give the app five stars as the company choose to use AI in its product. You can turn it off, which I had to Email the staff to do, […]

Best text app out there! Update 8/22/25 App has progressively become unstable and unbearable. The MMS messages just spin and never send or download, they ask for $$ to send larger videos, some messages NEVER even show up….. the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, it’s time to move on to something more reliable.

It’s great. It’s affordable in today’s economy, and it works. The only thing it lacks is timed messages you can squedule to go out when u know people are not asleep, if you think of something they need to know as soon as they wake up and u don’t want to forget to say later. […]

I have used this app on many phones over the past decade or so, but unfortunately I think I’m going to have to go to the Android stock app. I’m in quite a few group chats and as of last weekend (8/2/25) Google’s RCS system seems to be causing me to miss messages, and about […]

RE: I already tried that. Doesn’t work. Used this app for a decade as a gold member. And they always addressed all issues in the past . Was the best by far sms app in the market. The last 2 months have been a nightmare! Was no longer receiving all group messages from the group. […]

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 […]

I’m having some major issues. The first issue is when someone tries to send me a photo or image text they come to me showing “download” but they never fully download so that I can see the image. This has been going on for days. I just did the app update thinking that would help, […]

I really like this text app, but I have had a few issues with using the search feature to find someone’s name so I can text them, especially if their name is way down in the order of my recent texts. It’ll put me onto a completely different page. Also, choosing a background theme for […]

What happened??? I’ve been using this app a long time and people have been telling me they’ve sent messages that I dont get. The problem is with group messages. I had to switch to another messaging app. and when I did, 30+ group messages poured in that I’ve missed from the past month. Too bad. […]

9/21/25 I am having trouble sending pictures and when I get one to send the receiver receives this message. “File can be open Natively on next sms instead of browser . . . etc.” please advise. thank you. I love this app! There isn’t anything you can’t do in a text messaging app. The only […]

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 […]