ChompSMS App Review
ChompSMS is one of the oldest and most downloaded apps on the Android marketplace. In short, it is a highly customizable SMS client with the ability to also send extremely cheap international texts via ChompSMS’s network – although this really great feature is barely mentioned now on their Android marketplace listing.
Originally, ChompSMS was a totally free piece of software with no adverts with ChompSMS making their money from selling credits for their cheap international texting service. However, a few months ago this changed much to many peoples dismay – the app turned into an ad supported app but you can remove the ads either by buying SMS credits or by donating via Paypal. Many would complaint hat they should just make it a paid app for an ad free version in the marketplace but this is not currently possible due to Google not supporting paid applications in Australia where ChompSMS is based.
For this review I purchased 50 credits (50 texts) for £3.50 which works out at 7p per text. I have tested sending texts from the UK to Malta and it worked seamlessly. Texts are received quickly and I really cannot fault the service. The ChompSMS network covers most of the world but it’s best to check their site for exact coverage. I would recommend using this service to absolutely anyone wanting to send texts internationally - with my contract provider (Orange UK) 50 texts to Malta would have cost me £10, with ChompSMS just £3.50 and a great bonus is that buying credits removes the ads from the application. What is disappointing is that this isn’t something which ChompSMS seems to advertise anymore – it seems to be used primarily as just an alternative messaging client which is a shame because this part of the application is absolutely brilliant and I’m sure if more people understood and knew about it then it would be much more popular.
Using the application as an alternative messaging client is also a nice experience. The default UI is similar to that of the iPhone messaging application using chat bubbles for conversations but a great benefit is that it can be customised a lot to suit your own preferences which is always a nice feature – there are far too many options to list here but being a free app I would recommend that you at least just download it to give it a try.
In addition to an improved UI over the stock messaging app, ChompSMS contains many other great features such as a popup and a widget. The popup works great – it looks nice and if you have more than one unread message you can simply swipe across to see it. There is a quick reply button to reply directly from the popup which saves time in replying and also means what you are currently doing on your phone isn’t interrupted – very handy indeed. ChompSMS contains two widgets – one is a small icon widget which displays an unread count number and the other is a big widget which shows unread texts and allows you to do various options such as delete or reply. It would be nice to see widgets developed further to show not just unread messages but any message similar to ‘Pure messenger widget’ and possibly make it scrollable for more advanced launchers such as ‘Launcher Pro’.
It’s quite hard to fault ChompSMS – the international rates are outstanding and the app works extremely well on our test device – the Samsung Galaxy S. Reading marketplace comments it appears that not everyone is as happy as we are with the app but the most common complaints are force closing (something we have yet to experience) and that it contains ads. I can understand the developer including ads because they need to make some money from an app and it’s very apparent that a lot of time has been spent making this. My recommendation would be instead of donating buy yourself 50 credits, this will remove ads and give you 50 international text messages – even if you don’t need to use them straight away you’re always going to know someone who’s going on holiday or go away your self and have a chance to use them up.
If the default messaging app doesn’t really do it for you then definately give ChompSMS a try. Yes, there are alternatives on the marketplace (which we will also review) but at the moment we put this at the top of the pile.
Rating: 
Price: FREE
Download this app:
Test version: 4.5
Test phone(s): Samsung Galaxy S
To buy credit, donate or to see more features, check out http://www.chompsms.com/.
Tags: cheap, chomp, ChompSMS, international sms, international text, messaging, sms, sms popup
Is there any way that you can create a message report displaying whether or not the recipient received the message like the stock messenger on android? Thanks
HR
Hi HR,
Yes it does indeed have delivery reports. They are disabled by default but can be enabled by going to “SMS and MMS Network” in the settings menu and then going to “Mobile carrier settings” then just tick the “SMS Delivery Reports” option. This can also be done for MMS by doing the same as above but instead selecting “MMS Network Settings”. Hope this helps.
I love chomps SMS it works fine my only problem is my track ball on my mytouch doesn’t light up anymore when I receive a text
I think it cost me more than a normal text would… It took 12p away and my normal text only cost me 10p!! 2p may noy seem like alot of money to you but it is!
@Tarten – that is not possible. If you send a text with chomp it costs the same as your carrier rate. If you want to get cheaper SMS’s you need to buy credits from Chomp at their website and then edit your app settings to use ChompSMS credits instead of your normal SMS.
Can anyone tell me – is Chomp ok for contract phones? I’m with T-Mobile and have unlimited text messages. Thanks
I love this app. it brings new face of messaging. But it doesn’t predict to whom you are sending your text when typing the name of the recipient.
What is also not clearly mentioned (you have to read their Terms of Use) is that texts are delivered through either the WiFi or the 3G connection. For 3G this means that there maybe some additional charges applied, depending on your plan ofcourse.