Need App with Push Notif. to communicate

[aykhwang]

Since my mom is cheap, she won't pay for a texting plan on my dad and my iPhones. I have been trying to devise a solution (for emergencies when my dad can't call for some reason)

So far, I have Boxcar setup to my Twitter account to alert me whenever I'm @mentioned. It works great -> whenever I get an @mention the phone vibrates, then displays a push notification, just like a text.

I'm just wondering if there's any easier way to do this...

Thanks,

Alex

 

[outphase]

You can try chat/IM clients like Beejive or pseudo-SMS clients like TextFree or TextNow. I say "pseudo" because they are pretty much chat clients tied to some email address or phone number that are not your real number.

There's also Google Voice. Just remember to not forward SMS to your phone.

 

[aykhwang]

So how could I use Google Voice?

 

[james92se]

Well, if you want an actual text-messaging app in lieu of native text-messaging, why don't you just use TextFree? It's a text-messaging app that works just like the native texting (although you choose a new number, so you'll just have to give your friends that number, but the number is permanent to you). It normally costs $6 but it's on sale right now for free.

I've been using it for several days now and it's incredibly reliable. I'm even going to drop down to the 200 text message package with AT&T. The only downside is you can't send picture messages (they are working on it), but for free, and considering your mom won't get a text package for you, this is the next best thing.

Some others here have recommended iTim as a free text-messaging app, but I downloaded it two days ago and that thing is an absolute mess.

Seriously, go to the app store and download TextFree. It's free right now to download so you can't go wrong.