Just installed QKSMS... Thanks for the tip. NICE!! :)
Signal alternative for SMS now they want to drop its support
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Orphee , Well stated.
ISTM your situation is common for MOST users; certainly for me. SMS is simply the standard; insecure protocol at this time, but not yet replaced for the masses.
IMHO stick with the GOS messenger for routine txts - consider them postcards that are readily readable in transit.
You know who wrote/maintains it - trustworthy, skilled and not spyware.
It is part of the hardened OS - using hardened tools and techniques. A lot of cell phones have been hacked via SMS - I bet GOS messenger is NOT one of them, but some third party messenger could be.
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I too am looking for an sms app.
I'm willing to sacrifice and live with the old look and colors of the default app, but what is a major issue for me is the fact that you can't delete multiple messages at once. You can either delete the whole conversation , or a single message. Its clunky and slow. It's a MAJOR pain in my ass, cause I constant delete useless messages and only keep important ones. The default app is such a pain.
But at the same time, the "robustness" and "reliability" of the app is more important to me than anything else. Having someone send you an important sms and then it disappearing or getting corrupted by the app is not acceptable for me.
In my opinion "oldness" is not a problem, as many apps really don't need updates. What matters is reliable functioning and good workflow.
So I've been looking at QKsms and Simple SMS as alternatives, however I am afraid about their reliability. There is almost 400 open issues on both of them on github, with reports of images being messed up and messages disappearing, group messages being messed up. these are elements that have to work correctly for me because others may use them with me. Using an app that doesn't know how to handle the sms protocol wholly and correctly is IMO fundamentally problematic. At least the default app can be trusted in this sense.
From you guys' experience, are they reliable enough to use do you think?
Do you guys really think google messages could be used "safely"? Normally I wouldn't ever even remotely risk going near any of their software that would have access to such sensitive data as my sms and phone calls.
At least with google messages or signal you know you are dealing with a "reliable" app.
Anyway I'm in desperate need of a solution and just don't know what to do. I need a different app than the default.
I'm hoping you guys have a suggestion, or can tell me whether QKsms or SimpleSMS are good enough to use?
I just need a reliable app that can do just a little more than the default app.
I am not sure if this is allowed, I have been using a forked version of Signal with SMS still enabled. It is updated constantly:
ozzmanj1 Here's another one: https://github.com/ryukoposting/Signal-Android/tree/fork-5.53.8
One of the great benefits of having Signal handle SMS messages, is encrypted backups.
The built-in messaging app for graphene OS doesn't seem to have a backup system at all. I guess we'll need a 3rd app just for encrypted SMS backup.
5 months later
ozzmanj1 I tried out this signal fork but I haven't been able to receive any images. I suppose it does not handle MMS?
I'm still struggling to find a nice SMS app that can also do MMS. I really dislike the look of the GOS messenger.
Does anyone else have suggestions besides Molly, Partisan, and Simple SMS?
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thompson "GOS Messenger" is just an AOSP messaging app. You can look for FOSS messaging apps on F-Droid, but if you don't care about the app being FOSS, use Google Messages because it supports RCS (which allows for E2EE messaging) and the app is modern too.
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zzz Not maintained anymore and has 476 open issues on GitHub, wouldn't recommend.
[deleted] Not maintained anymore
https://github.com/moezbhatti/qksms/releases
Last update was January this year. Still being maintained, but it's one of those devs who keep the "stable" version for a long time, and run with the prerelease channel.
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Graphite What about 476 open issues?
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Why do my comments need approval? What's happening?
(It seems that the number is triggering this approval)
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[deleted] it must be either your day off work today or your main job, I don't know which one.
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[deleted] What do you mean?
Yeah, agreed that QKSMS is a problematic app for that reason. (There was some activity on their "pre-release" on Jan 16th 2023, but I agree that it's not too promising)
One thing I struggled with though - is an out of date SMS app really all that much worse than the SMS protocol itself? My understanding is that the SMS protocol is so badly vulnerable / compromisable that using it at all is a huge security vulnerability, regardless of the app.
My position is: I'm unwilling to abstain from using SMS entirely (too many contacts use it exclusively, I don't have the social capital to cut those off or make them switch to Signal), I dislike the AOSP messenger aesthetics, and I hope to avoid using google software on principle.
Given those, I chose QKSMS because it seemed to be the "lesser of the evils".
I have not tried @thompson's other recommendations though (Molly, Partisan, Simple SMS).
I'd be open to trying other apps / rethinking my approach too.
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[deleted] don't take things to seriously please, that's all.
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zzz One thing I struggled with though - is an out of date SMS app really all that much worse than the SMS protocol itself? My understanding is that the SMS protocol is so badly vulnerable / compromisable that using it at all is a huge security vulnerability, regardless of the app.
Using Google Messages with RCS is the way. At least you get E2EE encryption.
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[deleted] Are we talking about me being confused about why some of my comments needed approval? (Which is because of that number.)