Developers the world over are constantly innovating. They design and develop messaging apps that let us stay connected conveniently to each other in this fast-paced modern world. Most of these apps require you to subscribe or pay to download and install. Quite a good number though are available absolutely free-of-charge.
We are going to highlight, and briefly explain, our selection of the top ten best free mobile messaging apps as of the year 2018. These apps generally let users make free voice and video calls, share instant messages, photos, and even text messages. We hope this will help you get started hassle-free. A selection of the 10 proven best free mobile messaging Apps.
#1: WhatsApp
This is perhaps the king of mobile messaging apps. It was jointly developed by Brian Acton and Jan Kuom. The app was taken over by Facebook Inc. in February 2014. It presently boasts of over 1.5 billion total users who are spread out in over 180 countries. It is also visited by 450 million users monthly and 315 million users daily.
The app basically lets users send each other instant messages, make video and voices calls, and send free text messages among other features. It does have a payment option which, at the moment, is limited to India alone. This is the WhatsApp Pay feature. All the transactions are processed by the Unified Payments Interface.
#2: Facebook Messenger
Closely trailing WhatsApp is the Facebook Messenger. As the name suggests, it was indeed developed by and is owned by Facebook Incorporated. It boasts 1.4 billion active users as of December 2017. It is presently installed on 87.5% of all Android devices in circulation. It does have a payment option which is still in beta version at the moment.
This messaging app enables two Facebook users to chat, exchange files and photos, make video calls, and even send each other text messages. It does not require the subscribers to share their telephone contacts as each user logs in with his Facebook username.
#3: WeChat
WeChat stands apart from the top messaging apps in that it originates from the most unlikely location – China. By the close of the year 2017, it had around 963 million monthly active users. It is basically a social chatting tool that lets its users chat freely with their friends. It also has a friend-finder tool which enables you to track the location of your contacts via the GPRS functionality.
It does support a range of payment options. These include Native In-App Payments, QR Code, Quick Pay, and In-App Web-Based. Because of this, it brings along the benefit of utmost convenience to its users.
#4: Telegram
This Russian-developed instant messaging app is cloud-based. This simply means that it stores all the conversations, files, and data in a cloud. It thereafter avails this data to its users regardless of their precise locations on the globe. It grants its users the ability to send instant messages, exchange photos, files, videos, audio, and stickers.
At the moment, it has 180 million active users globally. The app has variants that are compatible with various operating systems and platforms. Among these are iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows Phone, Linux, and Windows NT.
It also has a payment option. This option basically acts as an intermediary between the end user-payer, the bot developer, and their preferred payment platform.
#5: Snapchat
In sharp contrast to other mobile messaging apps, Snapchat is multimedia. This simply means that it handles and transfers files of various formats and types. It lets users chat instantly, share files and photos, and hold live video conferencing, among others.
It had a whopping 187 million daily users as of the end of 2017. It is also available in 22 languages and is mainly popular among North American and European teens.
Other than sending each other messages, the app also allows users to send money to one another. The money is relayed by use of Square Cash’s email payment platform.
#6: Line
Unlike most other mobile messaging apps that are restricted to mobile devices, Line accommodates several electronics. It can work well via cellphones, personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It is free-of-charge and commands an active user base of about 217 million people. It is mainly restricted to Asia though.
With this app, users can chat; make conference voice and video calls, exchange photos and stickers, and even play games! It does have a payment platform called LINE Pay. This provides a secure and trustworthy payment service.
#7: KIK
Developed by the Canadian company, KIK Interactive, this software is a freeware instant messaging mobile app. It is available free-of-charge via the iOS and Android operating systems. It is also free to operate as it utilizes your smartphone’s data plan or the Wi-Fi connectivity to send and receive mobile web pages, instant messages, videos, photos, and sketches.
In the year-ended 2017, it had 300 million active users. It is especially popular among US teens. The app launched its own digital currency called Kin. With this currency, users will be able to earn and buy items from inside the app.
#8: IMO
IMO supports and works well alongside other big instant messaging names like Yahoo!, AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, and MSN Messenger. It basically lets you chat instantly with all your contacts in the aforementioned social networking sites. This saves you a great deal of time and effort as it absolves you from the need to log in to those sites separately.
Other than sending and receiving instant messages, the app also lets users make and receive video and voice calls, for free! At the end of 2017, the app had been downloaded 500 million times especially by the younger range of teenagers.
#9: Viber
Founded in 2003, this social chatting app bears several similarities with most other mobile messaging apps. It is cross-platform in that it can work well across several operating systems and platforms. Examples of these are iOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, Linux, and MacOS. It had a whopping 980 million registered users worldwide as of the year-ended 2017.
Apart from merely chatting, the app also enables its users to make phone calls to each other, absolutely free! Other than that, it also enables users to exchange media – like images and video records. It has no payment platform of its own.
#10: Kakaotalk
Closing our list of the top mobile messaging apps is this free mobile instant messaging application for smartphones. With a pretty small user base of just about 49.7 million10, this app is mainly limited to South Korea and much of Asia. It does have a bright future though as more and more people are anticipated to download it in the future.
The app is loaded with free text and free call features. It also works well across several platforms as MacOS, Bada OS, Android OS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Windows, and Nokia Asha.
It also comes along with KakaoPay which basically allows users to pay for certain products online using their KakaoTalk account. It also allows users to safely transfer money to their respective bank account from their Kakaotalk chat. They do this without necessarily using any of their authentication certificate or one-time-password (OTP).
Conclusion
Mobile apps for Android and iOS are indeed here to stay. Moreover, they also play a crucial role in enhancing how we connect to and share with people all around us. You just cannot afford to overlook them at all; not when you own a smartphone.
For this reason, you have to make every effort to download and install at least one of the free mobile messaging apps. The 10 best free mobile messaging apps we have identified and reviewed above will usually give you the much-needed starting point.
Bob Tom
