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 download of the message. that progress to an even worse case where zero group chats were coming in. single message worked just fine. the remedy? switching over to another app

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. I love the personalized skins for my contacts and feel there is more security with this app but now I'm starting to wonder about that! MUCH better than invasive google messages!!! Love it!

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 personal background so it is easier to read the texts.

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 have solved the problem, and will hopefully prevent future problems. They were very responsive and courteous to me, as I'm older and not that tech savvy.

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 frustrating.

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 only need their phone number for texting; not sure why I have to sift through email addresses. But overall, a great app!

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 glitch where I am just not receiving messages when they are sent. Which leads me to think that my messages are not sending when they should.

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 on my phone bill which was the reason for my problem. Handecent had immediately replied to my email offering solutions. if I could give them 10 stars I would!

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 support is timely & helpful.

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, but it shouldn't be integrated in the first place. AI is awful, and companies jumping on the bandwagon to ram a lake-boiling lie machine onto their customers is vile.