

Show HN: QKSMS, an SMS replacement app for Android - moezb
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moez.QKSMS

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nathanb
Here is my biggest problem with Hangouts (and the previous Android texting
apps I've used):

They seem to work pretty well most of the time. But occasionally, especially
with low signal, they hit an annoying exception condition where a message will
fail to be sent.

When this happens, it is never clear to me whether the message actually failed
to be sent, or whether the receipt was not acknowledged. I know that sometimes
it's the former, and sometimes it's the latter (leading to the sending of
duplicate messages).

This is probably an artifact of the carrier that the app can do nothing about.
True?

~~~
givehimagun
I think false.

I have the same frustrations. When I had Google Voice without Hangouts, it was
a buzz after I texted and a clear message that the 'message failed to be
sent...retrying'. I was able to use the long press to resend immediately, view
the message details or cancel the message. I really enjoyed the feedback I got
with them.

I've now upgraded to Hangouts and I can't tell in low-connectivity settings
whether I need to intervene or not. I'd prefer some easy feedback messages
which I can identify action on. I expect network failure...but I'm honestly
worried when I see Hangouts/Google Voice/phone failure.

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moezb
Feel free to ask any questions here!

The app has been in testing for a few months now, and in that time it
accumulated over 20k members in the G+ tester community. Today, it's finally
being released for the masses :)

Side note, I'm publishing an update in a couple hours to fix some of the
crashes that have been showing up in this update

~~~
xpose2000
I think the screenshots tell most of the story here. It looks pretty
incredible and I am willing to try it out.

Though my biggest question is how similar this thing is to another one called
Textra. Can you talk a little bit about what's going on with both of these
apps and why they look identical? Plus Textra already has 1-5 million
installs.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra&hl=...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra&hl=en)

~~~
ThePinion
Beta tester from the start here. QKSMS looked the way it does from the start.
Two months into QKSMS development Textra released that update. They're both
following material design guidelines, but QKSMS definitely had it first.

------
illektr1k
Any plans for Pushbullet integration? EvolveSMS is pretty fragile but the only
one that supports it at the moment.

[https://www.pushbullet.com/](https://www.pushbullet.com/)

[http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06/10/pushbullet-and-
evolv...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06/10/pushbullet-and-evolvesms-
join-forces-to-give-you-one-less-reason-to-touch-your-phone/)

------
niwox
What makes this different from Textra?
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra)

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zeeshanm
I like search feature in your app (hangout app doesn't have it)...perhaps make
it responsive by searching on the fly as user enters a search term... And may
be sort messages by created time in desc order

~~~
srcreigh
(I work on QKSMS)

Thanks for the feedback :) we have tons of ideas for making search better too
---keep an eye out for updates in the coming weeks!

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knam4
Wow, the app is beautiful. However, personally, the number one negative
experience I've dealt with using my Note 2 was group messaging. It's always
fragmented, especially photos. Getting photos in group chat not connected to
wifi is always hit or miss. Did you do anything with group chat to improve
this problem?

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padho
Looks nice so far. Good look, but seems like it already has good traction!

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Kpourdeilami
This is so awesome!

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jackmaney
It looks neat, I guess, but it's only really useful for those who have a
mobile plan with unlimited data and limited texting. I'm not certain, but I
suspect that this is a small minority of the mobile market.

~~~
moezb
It's actually an SMS *client replacement. It doesn't use mobile data, it uses
real SMS and MMS!

