You still send SMS/text messages to your contacts

WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and more – there’s no shortage of good messaging and chat apps. These online communication platforms offer SMS, voice calls, video calls and many other functions. You’d think that the traditional SMS / text messaging method isn’t that popular as instant messaging apps are garnering millions of users around the world.

So we did a survey Android Authority Ask our readers if they still send SMS / text messages from their cell phones. Everyone is still getting SMS for things like transactions and marketing promotions. But are people willingly using the service to contact their loved ones? Here’s how our readers voted and what they had to say.

Are you still sending SMS / text messages to loved ones?

Results

Our SMS poll received a total of 2,226 votes and the results were surprisingly one-sided. Most of our readers who took the survey, 72.3% to be precise, said they are still SMS / text messaging to loved ones.

In the meantime, 27.7% of those surveyed said that they no longer send SMS messages.

There were some interesting comments our readers had to make about the status of SMS / text messages and their thoughts on them. Read on and see if you’re okay with this.

Your comments

Jaden Lock: I stopped using RCS because I don’t get a lot of messages with Google Messages, so let’s go back to SMS first.

Eric Pearson: If Apple joined the RCS platoon at least, all phones would delete SMS unless it was a dumbphone.

Andrew: I only use SMS / Text. That is still the standard. I also use it with my business. At this point, most of the other Android phones in my family are using Chat / RCS and it’s wonderful. Now all I have to do is deal with silly iMessage and the lack of nice game play with others.

Loop Sandoval: You can get RCS in the standard SMS app on T-Mobile. (S21U). I tried google messages. It was dropped because of its unreliability and lack of features.

Stefan M .: Yes, SMS is much more reliable than IM. Plus, I don’t have to worry about data plans and internet signal strength. You can always send SMS, but you cannot always get a signal to IM. That’s why I always use SMS.

DynamicD: SMS is always more convenient than IM. Well I love the features that come with instant messaging applications, but SMS is always needed.

Alistair Parsons: I agree that SMS are always needed, I use both and would never be able to use just one system. I often send SMS more often than otp, only that SMS cannot be used exclusively.

Painfully_Candid: This may shock you, but in the US, cell signals are far more reliable and AVAILABLE than Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi – especially free / public access – is almost non-existent in my neighborhood. I literally have to be at home or eat at a very small number of restaurants to get WiFi. And as others pointed out, SMS is pretty much the last bit of your cellular service when the signal gets weaker. The bottom line for me is that I can ALWAYS reach my contacts via SMS. I can reach them through the ten thousand IM apps at times as long as I can figure out which ones they are using. SMS ONLY WORKS.

Panino: Nobody uses SMS here in Europe. Everyone has WhatsApp.

Anthorama: It’s been years since I haven’t received a single text message. Everything is WhatsApp

Martin Pollard: SMS all the way here. Virtually everyone of my friends, family and business contacts can and uses SMS. In contrast, almost no one uses WhatsApp. As many here have pointed out, I still have access to SMS even if I don’t have cellular data or WiFi but still have a cell phone signal, while I would be SOL if I relied on WhatsApp or other internet -required apps .

Shizuma: Yes, texting is ubiquitous. If someone has a phone, they can receive text messages. IM, on the other hand, requires certain apps and accounts. The apps are data breach breaches that I won’t install on my phone.

pleasantly real: If you live in the US and only communicate with other people in the US, texting is fine. If you live in a smaller country and chat with people outside of that country, texting can be ridiculously exorbitant. Everyone I know in Europe uses WhatsApp. Try having a text message between LA and London. It just doesn’t make sense to pay cross-border SMS fees.