Ditch your phone at home!
Smartphones have been a huge part of people's lives all around the world and will continue to be a part of us as its technology continues to improve. Unfortunately, we tend to keep it close to us as if it is an appendage. I, for one, do not like to keep my phone near me when I am at home and when I do, I find it less convenient to use it because of the small screen. I can do almost anything on my personal computer except for sending texts. Fortunately for me, there is an app that solves this problem, and its called MightyText.
Founded in 2011 by former Google employees, MightyText is both a web and mobile-based application that allows users to send text messages from their phones via their computer (Shontell, A). To use MightyText, simply download the app on your cell phone via the Play Store and open the app. In the app, you will be prompted to open MightyText either via a web page on a browser compatible with its plugin or by downloading the app form its website. After the phone syncs with the app, users can access their text messages, as seen on the desktop app below.
The free version of the app allows users to look at their SMS/MMS messages for the last three months, while a monthly/yearly subscription unlocks and unlimited storage time and more. If you happen to have the phone far enough away not to hear it, alerts are sent to your computer to let you know when a message has come in. On the main page, a pop-up of any new messages will appear at the upper right of the app and will disappear after a few seconds. Another nice feature within the app is the ability to send MMS messages such as pictures, GIFs, and videos to the phone. If the file is too big, MightyText will allow you to reduce the size and then send it out, as well as alert you that the message was successfully sent through the phone.
If you wanted to see old pictures, videos, or GIFs you received, typically, users have to look at these from individual contacts. MightyText has a feature that puts them all together on one screen, and it shows you who was the sender.
By placing the cursor over the message, users can get the date when it was received. If you click on the picture, there are options to share on Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as forward the message, save it, or delete it. There is also the ability to create albums from the MMS messages as well.
Other features include a scheduler that can send a message at a particular time, a list of your contacts, and the battery percentage. Users can even see the apps on their phone, access the phone's gallery, set up on-phone app notifications, and send a command to the phone to ring it in case it was misplaced. You can even place a call and send files through the app.
With all the excellent features that come standard on the free version, there are some caveats that I think need to be improved to make the user experience better. First off, users need a Google account to sync a phone to the app. I would think it would be better to use a phone number, or any other email would work better to connect to the phone. Next is there currently is no standard production app for iPhone users. The iPhone has been in production since 2007 and by now, there should have been a stable app available for iOS, plus the team at MightyText missed out on potential revenue by having the app on Apple's product. There is a beta version of the app that has been in testing for almost a year for iOS but it is extremely buggy and has a hard time syncing in real-time. The last issue I see is that the subscription service is a bit on the expensive side. The standard price is $6.67 per month or an annual up-front fee of $79.99. For those who do not constantly work from their computer, it would be a waste to pay that amount and not use the service, and for that, the price should be lower.
To better give an idea of how I would rate this app, I will use a scale of 5/5.
- Usability- 4/5 - Easy to use and understand with no learning curve.
- Design- 5/5 - Great design, especially on PC and MACs. The iPad app can use some work.
- Functionality- 4/5 - The PC and MAC apps are great but the iOS app needs a lot of polish.
All-in-all, MightyText is a great app to use for those who do not want their phones plastered to their hands. I have the beta app on my iPad and it helps to send some messages from the device instead of having to get up from my couch to send a message. I can also see who is calling, so I can either choose to ignore it or run to answer the call. For those who do choose to pay for the subscription service, there are a lot of extended features that make the app more enjoyable, like themes, ad removal, and email sync. I highly recommend giving this app a shot.
References
Shontel, A (June 19, 2012) Early Google Employees Create MightyText To Free Text Messages From Your Phone.
Retrieved 9/15/2020 from
https://www.businessinsider.com/early-googler-employees-create-mightytext-to-free-text-messages-from-your-phone-2012-6
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