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Desktop SMS solutions?

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
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Aug 20, 2006
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What's the best solution for sending and receiving text messages to your phone contacts on your desktop computer? I currently use an app called Pushbullet that notifies you of texts and allows you to respond on your PC, but it doesn't allow you to initiate text conversations.

Is there a way to get Hangouts to show your phone contacts?
 
Well, MightyText seems super awesome.

But I'm still curious how I would set up Google Voice to do this. I installed the app but it doesn't show me anything involving my SMS or phone contacts.
 
For Google Voice it's best to look through the documentation to understand what it offers and the choices. Random Google Voice assigned # is free but I paid $10 for a custom # and use it as my primary # for free voice and SMS within North America over LTE with Groove IP 1.4.8 app (newer app version removes this capability) along with sending/receiving SMS and checking voicemail from a PC browser.

https://support.google.com/voice/answer/115073?hl=en&ref_topic=1707989
 
If the phone's on the same network as the PC (aka: on wireless) and it's an Android phone (you never said) there's AirDroid. It'll even show something when a call comes in. (discovered that one by accident when I was getting ready to shove a file at my phone)
 
Mighty Text +1. You just install the app and install the extension in your desktop browser, no complicated setup necessary. I've been using it for a couple of years now and I highly recommend it.
 
If you use Chrome there's a Hangouts extension, provided you use it on your phone as well, for it.
 
I use Air Droid. Works for SMS as well as a transferring files and managing everything else on your phone wirelessly.
 
I haven't bothered trying anything other than MightyText. Apparently, it even does everything that PushBullet does now. I'm not quite sure why it's showing me texts I sent a long time ago as if I had just sent them a couple of days ago, though.
 
Unfortunately, neither MightyText nor PushBullet seem to cover all the bases.

MightyText is the only complete solution for SMS on your other devices (desktop, tablet). But on the desktop, it's all done through the browser, and it's a bit clunky. As far as I can tell, there's no way to get notifications directly in Windows; you just have to keep checking the browser tab. Apparently their Chrome extension is better, but I'm a Firefox user.

PushBullet is much more elegant, streamlined and quick. Its Windows application is exactly what I want: it simply pops up alerts in the corner of my desktop when something comes in. The catch: you cannot initiate an SMS at will with PushBullet, only reply to incoming messages.
 
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