(The only app I'm sorry isn't included is Discord, but it's just not a texting app.) The big reason to use any of those apps is that your friends do. Twitter, despite badly adding end-to-end encryption to its direct messages, isn't here either. Nor did whatever Google is calling its latest messaging foray. IMessage, SMS, and Android Messages didn't make this list. So when it came to putting together this list, that freed me up to be pretty strict about the requirements for inclusion.

If that's SMS or smoke signals, you have my full permission to use it-as long as you aren't talking about anything super sensitive. Also, there's no way to add chat background wallpapers, like you can with other messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Viber.Especially after testing all the texting apps out there, I believe the best texting app is normally the one people will actually reply to you with. You're stuck with whatever Messenger decides to give you for each chat. The bright colors used for headers and text bubbles in chat windows are randomized between chats, and unfortunately there's no way to customize the colors. If you're a fan of this new style, you'll be happy with the way Google Messenger looks.

The bold, colorful Material Design user interface fits with the new branding introduced to Google apps after the Android Lollipop update. The app integrates well with your existing Android contacts, allowing you to quickly access them and start messaging straight away through Messenger's attractive, streamlined interface. Lesser features such as the ability to archive chats, or to block certain contacts from sending you messages help to add to the usefulness of Google Messenger. What the app does do well is to pull these tools together in an attractive package that makes the process of sending SMS and MMS messages simpler and more enjoyable. In fact, the app has even less features than its previous Android Messaging app. So, in this sense, Google isn't doing anything new with its Messenger app. These features, of course, almost always come as standard in any messaging app, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, or Facebook Messenger. The app has been given a lick of Material Design paint and bundled with some useful features such as group messaging, audio messaging, emoji support, and photo/video transfer. Google Messenger is a re-imagining of the stock Messaging app that's pre-installed with most pre-Lollipop Android phones.

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