Google Play / communication / TEXTNOW: CALL + TEXT UNLIMITED
REVIEW
TextNow gives you a real US phone number for nothing, and the catch is the ads.
Free calling and texting over WiFi or cellular data, a permanent US number, and now a low-cost MVNO data plan layered on top. The trade is your attention.
BY THE APP COMRADE DESK · MAY 10, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
TextNow: Call + Text Unlimited
TEXTNOW, INC.
OUR SCORE
7.4
GOOGLE PLAY
★ 4.6
PRICE
Free
In-app purchases
TextNow has been in the Play Store since 2012, and for most of that time the pitch has been the same: a real US phone number, free, paid for by the ads you watch while you use it. It is one of the longest-running free-tier services on Android, and one of the few where “free” has not been a euphemism for trial-ware. The number works. The texts go through. The calls connect.
What’s new is the layer on top. TextNow now sells its own prepaid cellular data plans in the US, riding on a national carrier’s network, which moves the company out of the “secondary number” category and into competition with the prepaid MVNO market — Mint Mobile, US Mobile, Visible. The free tier still exists and is still the headline product, but the paid tier is where TextNow is trying to grow up.
The honest review acknowledges both sides. The free service is genuinely useful — there is no other consumer app on Android that hands you a real callable US number for nothing. The ad load is also genuinely heavy, and the most recent Play Store reviews say so consistently. The right framing in 2026 is that TextNow is two products in one app: a free number with ads, and a paid prepaid carrier without them. Both work. Which one you want depends on what you’re actually trying to do.
TextNow is the rare free-tier service that gives you a real, callable, textable US phone number — and then asks you to watch ads for it.
FEATURES
TextNow assigns you a real US phone number — a regular ten-digit number reachable from any other phone — and routes calls and texts over WiFi or your device's data connection. Sign-up takes a phone (or just an email and a US area code) and the number is yours as long as you stay active. Inbound and outbound calls to US and Canadian numbers are free; SMS and MMS to those numbers are free; voicemail with transcription is included.
Beyond the free WiFi/data tier, TextNow now sells its own MVNO data plans in the US, riding on a national carrier's network. That layer is what turns the app from a secondary "burner-style" number into something you could plausibly use as your only phone. The MVNO tier removes ads from the app and adds cellular coverage when you're off WiFi.
The Android client handles group messaging, photo and video MMS, custom ringtones, conversation backup, and a "Lock Screen" widget that surfaces unread messages. Caller ID, blocking, and spam filtering are all built in. The whole thing is free on the surface and ad-supported underneath — banner ads inside the app, interstitial ads on call connect, and occasional video ads.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
The free tier actually works. A TextNow number behaves like a normal US number to the outside world — banks accept it for two-factor codes more often than not, ride-share and delivery apps treat it as legitimate, and the people you text don't see a special prefix or know it's a VoIP line. For users who need a US number from outside the country, a second number for marketplace listings, or a clean number after a breakup, TextNow is the easiest path.
Call quality on a decent WiFi connection is fine — comparable to other VoIP clients like Google Voice or WhatsApp calling. The MVNO data add-on is the meaningful 2025 move: it gives TextNow a path beyond the "free number you keep on the side" category into a real prepaid carrier offering. Google Voice has nothing equivalent.
ROOM TO IMPROVE
The free tier's ad load is heavy. Banner ads sit inside the conversation list, interstitial ads play between actions, and the "watch an ad to unlock" prompts are frequent enough that most reviews in the Play Store call them out specifically. Paying for the ad-free tier or the MVNO plan removes them; the free experience is the price of admission for what is otherwise a free service, and it's a real one.
Number retention is conditional on activity. If you stop opening the app, the number can be reclaimed and reassigned — exact windows depend on the tier, but the practical effect is that a TextNow number is not the same as a portable, owned-forever line from a traditional carrier. Anyone treating it as their permanent number should know that going in.
Privacy posture is fair but not exceptional. TextNow is ad-supported and the targeting infrastructure that funds the free tier is what you'd expect. Compared to Google Voice (free, but bound to a Google account and Google's data practices), it's a sideways trade rather than a clear win.
CONCLUSION
Install TextNow if you need a working US phone number without paying for a carrier line — for a side business, for app sign-ups, for a clean second number, or as your primary if you commit to the paid MVNO plan. The free tier's ad density is the cost; the paid tiers are the way to use the service seriously. Watch how the MVNO offering matures over the next year — that's the lane where TextNow could become a credible Mint Mobile or US Mobile competitor rather than a "free number" novelty.