ORIGINAL REDDIT POST
Are there any text/call apps like TextNow, but don't require Google Play Store?
I do my best to search but there's so much SEO, AI written reviews/articles, that everything that comes up is always only through the Play Store.
I do my best to search but there's so much SEO, AI written reviews/articles, that everything that comes up is always only through the Play Store.
Collected discussion
try using aurora store I guess...
I've been using F-Droid and am aware of Aurora, but I can only find replacements for the Phone and Messaging apps. What I really want is something like TextNow that assigns you a number you can use for calling/texting, but isn't linked to Google. Not even sure it exists or is possible.
Why are you trying to avoid the Play Store?
What you're describing (a real number not tied to Google) is more of a VoIP problem than an app-store one, which is why the F-Droid dialer/SMS replacements come up short — assigning an actual number needs a provider behind it. The closest fit to what you asked: JMP.chat. It gives you a real number that works over XMPP, and you use it with Cheogram (on F-Droid). No Google involved. You can even register without touching a website — message cheogram.com and send register jmp.chat to start. It's about $5/month, unlimited texts, with a bundle of call minutes included (extra minutes are cheap but metered, so heavy callers should know that). If you're on iOS, Cheogram is Android-only, but since it's just XMPP underneath you can use another client like Snikket — you lose some of the convenience features but the number still works.