Group texting + pictures + iPhone/Android + Win/Mac USB?

[Winfried]

Hello

I'm looking for an application with the following features:

• group conversations
• picture attachements
• smartphone app available on Android/iPhone, and computer app available on Windows/Mac, connection through USB

Currently, I juggle with the following three apps because none of them supports those three features: SMS (Windows = MyPhoneExplorer), WhatsApp, and Viber.

Is there an Android application that supports those features?

Thank you.

 

[chanchan05]

Viber actually supports almost all. You can chat through Viber on a Windows PC. You don't need a USB cable. Just install Viber for Windows. It's going to use the same ID you used on your phone.

Another option is WeChat. Again you don't need to connect your phone to your computer via USB. Just an Internet connection.

 

[fdbryant3]

GroupME I think does everything you asked for - on the PC you access it through the website

 

[Winfried]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check if GroupME supports USB, which I do want USB because wifi is needlessly complicated just to connect a home computer with the smartphone.

Also, unlike SMS or WhatsApp, Viber doesn't support taking and attaching pictures.

 

[chanchan05]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check if GroupME supports USB, which I do want USB because wifi is needlessly complicated just to connect a home computer with the smartphone.

Also, unlike SMS or WhatsApp, Viber doesn't support taking and attaching pictures.

Uh yes Viber can. I tap the + icon and I get options to attach pictures from my Gallery or take a photo.

And no, you don't need to use wifi to connect your phone to your computer just to get your viber messages on it. As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, you can receive viber calls and messages even if your phone is turned off.

Same goes for wechat. It's accessible via a browser and you don't need to connect your phone to computer. It's kinda like Facebook. You don't need to connect your phone to computer just to get messages.

Also facebook messenger can do what you want.

 

[fdbryant3]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check if GroupME supports USB, which I do want USB because wifi is needlessly complicated just to connect a home computer with the smartphone.

Also, unlike SMS or WhatsApp, Viber doesn't support taking and attaching pictures.

Actually for moving files on and off the phone I use Snappea. Makes doing it over Wifi (or even USB) easy.

 

[Winfried]

Thanks much for the correction about Viber. I (obviously) didn't know about the "+" icon to take a picture.

So it looks like Viber has all the features I need. The only little thing is that the Qt-based Windows desktop application doesn't minimize in the icon bar (it remains in the application bar), but it's a minor thing.

As for needing USB, I mentionned this because the apps I used so far worked that way (desktop <-> USB <-> phone <-> remote correspondants) since they used SMS, but a data connection-based solution would obviously be able to connect to the server directly and not require the USB connection.

GroupME, OTOH, and based on what I've seen, isn't up to par:

• doesn't send SMS if recipients are overseas (I guess GroupME is US-based: "Since we do not support international SMS, everyone will have to download the app."), so recipients must all have GroupME installed on their smartphone
• Individual recipients must all be added in their own group for one-to-one conversations. Cumbersome.
• There's no desktop application, only a web interface.
• The web interface doesn't provide some way to be notified of incoming messages ("We do not have an Ajax for popup notifications while you are on the computer, but we are always working on improving the interface! I'll pass along the suggestion").