ConnextGroupMe is ending free SMS — here's the next best option
GroupMe worked because it reached everyone. People with the app got messages in the app. People without it — a parent with a flip phone, the coach who never installed anything — still got the same message as a plain text. Nobody had to be talked into it.
That just broke. With SMS gone, GroupMe only reaches people who install the app and stay logged in. Everyone else silently drops out of the group.
If you were on GroupMe, Connext is the natural switch. It works the way GroupMe used to — and fixes the part that broke.
Free in the app, pennies for the rest
Anyone who installs the Connext app sends and receives in the group for free. You're only billed when a message goes out as an SMS to someone who isn't on the app — as low as 1¢ per message, and you won't find much lower anywhere.
No subscription, no per-seat fee, no credits to decode. Light month, light bill. Run your own number on the calculator.
Never a surprise bill
Set a daily message cap and Connext won't send past it — so one hyper-active texter can't run up a bill that gives you sticker shock. You set the ceiling, and your cost can't blow past it.
Announcement mode when you need it
Switch any group to announcement mode so only admins post and everyone else just receives — perfect for closures, schedules, and reminders without 40 "thanks!" replies burying the message. Flip it to open chat when you want the back-and-forth.
Run it from anywhere — even a flip phone
You don't need a smartphone or data to send. Message the group from the app, the web composer, or by texting a command from your own phone — a plain flip phone works fine.
Everything GroupMe never had
- One shared inbox — texts, replies, voicemail, and email in one thread
- Voice that reaches landlines — an undeliverable text becomes a call that reads your message aloud
- Polls and surveys, automation rules, roles and permissions, MMS, link tracking, and a full REST API
- Carrier compliance handled for you — for most groups we take care of the complicated registration, STOP handling, and opt-outs
Switch in minutes
Import your GroupMe contacts, have your regulars install the app so their messages stay free, pick announcement or open chat, and send. The people who aren't on the app get it as a text — the way it always should have worked.