Apps for International Texting with iPhone

December 12, 2011 | Rebtel

It doesn’t matter whether your mobile device is an iPhone or an Android, international texting can easily spiral out of control. Although most individual carriers will offer international texting plans, using apps for international texting can save a lot of money - particularly when you have multiple phones and lost of family members using texting as a primary mode of communication!

International Texting for iPhone

The iPhone app store has a host of apps for international texting; however, using many of these smartphone apps can end up costing extra money by using up the data plan limits from the phone carrier. Some are really only accessing email to send and receive ‘texts’, again using your data plan (example: paid app Text-for-free, from the Iphone App store).

In addition, downloading one of these international texting apps will often result in confusion - when the app is used to send a message, recipients will see the text message as coming from an unknown “texting number”. In many cases, the secondary text message number is not clearly identified as such (HeyWire is a good example), causing confusion and merely disconnecting if anyone tries to place a call to it. Other text messaging apps are really just chat clients, which can really burn up data plan limits and incur extra charges. The convenience of being able to ‘text’ in real time is outweighed by the expense.

Other free international texting apps often have multiple deficiencies, such as lack of support for mass texting, no way to send pictures in messaging (such as Google Voice) or can send only as a link, requiring the recipient to have a data plan (example: TextPlus), no way to quickly convert from text to a call, and no ability to access contacts directly from the messaging program (TextPlus again).

All iPhone International Texting Apps are not Equal

While many of the apps being offered are either not true international texting apps (such as chat programs that force you to use your data plan, or forwarding services that make their use clumsy and inefficient), there is one app that provides fast, easy international texting with iPhone without incurring hefty charges from your carrier.

Rebtel SMS can save up to 65% when it comes to texting friends and family in other countries. Rebtel works differently than most international texting apps; instead of texting directly to the international contact and incurring a high charge, texts are sent to a local number, so you don’t have to pay your mobile carrier’s high international texting rates.

How Rebtel’s iPhone International Texting App Works

All you have to do is have an account with Rebtel and sign up for international SMS. Enter the number of the person you want to text to internationally, and Rebtel will create a local number for them instead. When you text, it doesn’t require a data plan - you simply pay your phone carrier their rate for a local text and Rebtel charges a small fee for the international part of the text. This fee varies by country, but is still cheaper than paying your carrier for an international text!

For example, if you have a phone plan that includes X number of texts per month, a text is counted towards that limit. If you plan charges .3 cents per local text, .3 cents is charged by them. You also pay Rebtel the tiny fee for the text traveling from the local number to your international contact. This fee is generally less than 6 cents per SMS, and often as low as 2.9 cents. Compare to AT&T, which charges 25 cents per international texting with iPhone!

Best of all, Rebtel international texting apps come in versions for the iPhone, Android, and your PC as well as BlackBerry. This makes it easy to send international texts any time, anywhere.