Report updated May 4, 2026
textPlus: Text Message + Call
For users seeking secondary phone numbers for privacy, international travelers, or individuals without traditional mobile carrier plans.
textPlus: Text Message + Call is a challenged utilities app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.3/5 rating from 813.2K reviews, it faces significant user friction. Users particularly appreciate core communication features provide reliable calling and texting utility for international users, though aggressive account suspension policies trigger permanent bans without clear justification or appeal paths remains a common concern.
What is textPlus: Text Message + Call?
textPlus is a communication utility providing U.S. phone numbers for SMS and voice calls over WiFi on iOS and Android.
Users hire textPlus to obtain secondary phone numbers for privacy or international connectivity without the cost of a traditional mobile carrier plan.
Current Momentum
v8.6 · 2w ago
Maintenance- Shipped media previews in notifications.
- Resolved Canadian local number provisioning issues.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Provisioning of a real U.S. or Canadian phone number for SMS and voice calls without a SIM card
Voice and text communication routed over WiFi or mobile data instead of cellular voice networks
How much does it cost?
- Free tier with ad-supported messaging and calling
- Premium tiers ranging from $0.99/month for ad removal to $29.99/month for international calling bundles
Freemium model monetizes via ad-inventory on the free tier and granular IAP/subscription gates for number locking and ad removal.
Who Built It?
textPlus
Providing cost-effective communication alternatives through virtual phone numbers. Enabling users to bypass traditional cellular plans for domestic and international connectivity.
Portfolio
2
Apps
What other apps does textPlus make?
Explore the full textPlus report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by textPlus.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 100 of 173 total reviews analyzed · Based on 173 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate core communication features provide reliable calling and texting utility for international users, but report aggressive account suspension policies trigger permanent bans without clear justification or appeal paths and misleading free-to-use marketing obscures mandatory subscription requirements for basic phone number access.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for textPlus: Text Message + Call?
How's The Utilities Market?
How does it evolve in the Utilities market?
textPlus holds the #65 Free / #99 Grossing position in the US Utilities chart. The Grossing rank lagging Free by 34 spots indicates monetization friction within the free-tier user base.
Rank progression
155 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Dominates the free second-number space with massive scale and a high-frequency release cadence that directly challenges our core value proposition.
Differentiators
- Offers a hybrid model with a free ad-supported tier alongside low-cost SIM card activation options.
- Maintains a significantly higher release velocity, shipping five major updates in the last six months.
- Provides integrated nationwide talk and text coverage that extends beyond simple WiFi-only VoIP functionality.
Head to head
Target must differentiate by doubling down on the 'privacy-first' or 'temporary-use' utility niche to avoid a direct feature-war with TextNow's carrier-like service model.
Contenders(3)
A long-standing incumbent in the free texting space that maintains a very similar feature set and audience.
Differentiators
- Utilizes a mature, battle-tested ad-monetization engine that allows for a completely free user experience.
- Provides a highly stable, legacy-focused interface that prioritizes reliability over rapid feature experimentation.
Directly targets the privacy-conscious segment with a specialized focus on disposable, temporary communication channels.
Differentiators
- Positions itself as a premium privacy tool rather than a free ad-supported communication utility.
- Features a sophisticated UX designed for rapid creation and deletion of numbers for specific, short-term interactions.
A formidable competitor due to deep ecosystem integration and aggressive feature iteration cycles.
Differentiators
- Deeply integrated with the Google Workspace ecosystem for seamless cross-device synchronization and professional productivity workflows.
- Maintains an extremely high innovation velocity with 22 releases in the last six months alone.
Same space(2)
A direct utility competitor that focuses on international reach and multi-number management.
Differentiators
- Supports a wider range of international numbers, catering to users needing global rather than just US presence.
- Offers a flexible, non-subscription-heavy pricing model that allows for pay-as-you-go number management.
Adjacent communication giant that dominates the global messaging market, though it lacks the 'second number' utility.
Differentiators
- Operates as a primary communication layer with massive global network effects that secondary number apps lack.
- Provides end-to-end encryption as a standard, which serves as a major trust-based differentiator for users.
New entrants(1)
Emerging utility player with consistent updates and a focus on modernizing the second-number experience.
Differentiators
- Implements a more modern, clean UI design that feels less cluttered than legacy free-texting applications.
- Focuses on high-quality voice call routing to address common complaints regarding VoIP call clarity.
Compare textPlus: Text Message + Call against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for textPlus: Text Message + Call
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Cross-device message synchronization increases user engagement footprint
- Prepaid international credit model captures high-intent calling corridors
Critical Frictions
- 0.54 rating gap between Android and iOS indicates platform-specific technical instability
- Opaque account-ban logic drives high-frequency churn complaints
Growth Levers
- Transparent appeal process for suspended accounts could recover lost users
- B2B partnerships for international travel bundles
Market Threats
- TextNow's 5-update cadence in 6 months outpaces current development
- Google Voice's Workspace integration captures professional-use segments
What are the next best moves?
Audit account suspension logic because ban complaints are the #1 churn driver → stabilize user retention
Sentiment analysis identifies aggressive, opaque bans as the top complaint theme.
Trade-off: Pause the international calling UI refresh — retention of existing users outweighs new feature acquisition.
Clarify free-tier number availability in marketing because misleading-marketing complaints are high → reduce refund surge
Users report frustration regarding mandatory subscriptions for numbers marketed as free.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the new onboarding flow — fixing trust issues is critical to conversion.
A counter-intuitive read
The high volume of account bans is not just a support failure but a necessary, albeit poorly communicated, cost-control mechanism for free-tier VoIP infrastructure that competitors like TextNow subsidize through cellular-carrier partnerships.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- SIM-based cellular connectivity (available in TextNow but absent here)
- Standard email registration (available in competitors but absent here)
Key Takeaways
textPlus provides reliable core utility but suffers from aggressive ban policies and monetization friction, so the PM must prioritize support transparency and technical stability to prevent further churn to TextNow.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The secondary-number market is consolidating around providers that offer carrier-grade stability, leaving textPlus exposed due to its reliance on VoIP-only infrastructure. Recent technical instability and opaque ban policies suggest a declining trend, so the PM must pivot toward transparency to avoid losing the remaining user base to TextNow.
Technical instability post-update causes message delivery failures, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
Aggressive, opaque account suspension policies trigger permanent bans, leading to a decline in long-term user trust.