When comparing Textra vs Pulse SMS, the Slant community recommends Textra for most people. In the question“What are the best SMS apps for Android?” Textra is ranked 2nd while Pulse SMS is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Textra is:
Clean, minimalist design.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Sleek design
Clean, minimalist design.
Pro Allows responding to SMS without opening the app
When a new sms is received, a window will pop up that has the message and allows answering it from there, without having to open the app.
Pro Can schedule messages
SMS & MMS can be set to go out at certain times.
Pro Personalization
Can change colors of apps UI and customize for specific conversations.
Pro Works with Pushbullet for SMS replies
Pro Multi-platform/Unified Messaging
Pro Open-source
Pro Per-Conversation Customization
Pro One-time fee
Pro Good Material Design UI
Pro Encrypted messaging content on devices
Pro You can use the iOS app as long as you know how to sideload it
It is on GitHub and there's a way to sideload it with Cydia impactor and appsigner.io
Cons
Con Only SMS / MMS
Lacks data messaging.
Con No RCS support
But only Messages has that.
Con Inconsistent and intermittently unreliable syncing with web app.
Forgets password periodically - dev insists that it doesn't do this - but it does.
Despite syncing via cloud there is no backup option.
Con The web and pc clients haven't been updated in almost a year. No support for gifs in the web or pc clients. Sometimes the web and pc clients are unable to login or do not sync messages.
Con Lacks support for UWP on Windows 10
UWP apps aren't hard to build - Luke K could bring his app to the Windows Store easily and make a TON of people happy at work.