Send an Online Msg Free to Someone in Another Country
The usual way to send an online msg free to someone in another country is an internet messaging app, iMessage or RCS chat over Wi-Fi or data, not a regular text. Standard SMS to a foreign number often costs extra, even on plans with unlimited domestic texting.
Below: what to use, how to avoid sending a paid international text by accident, and how to save foreign numbers so apps can find your contacts.
Why texting another country can cost you
A regular SMS to a foreign number travels between carriers in different countries, and many plans treat it separately from domestic texting. Depending on your plan, each international text may be charged, or you may need an add-on.
Before you send a lot of them, check international rates in your carrier's app or plan details. Receiving texts from abroad is free or included on many plans, but rules differ by country and carrier. Who pays for texts in general is covered in is SMS free.
Free options that cross borders
| Option | What both people need | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or Messenger | The same app and an internet connection | Some countries block or limit certain apps, so check before you travel |
| iMessage | Apple devices with iMessage turned on | Can fall back to SMS when iMessage isn't available, depending on your settings |
| RCS chat | Phones and carriers that support RCS, with chat features on | Can fall back to SMS, which may be billed as an international text |
| An email address | Fine for longer notes, slow for anything urgent |
A messaging app is the most predictable choice when you don't know what phone the other person has. You can also use those apps from a laptop, as shown in messaging apps in a web browser.
Avoid an accidental international text
iMessage and RCS look like ordinary texts, and both can quietly fall back to SMS. On a domestic plan that usually costs nothing extra; to a foreign number, that fallback may be a paid international text. A few habits prevent it:
- On iPhone, turn off Send as Text Message in the Messages settings, so an iMessage that can't be delivered isn't resent as SMS automatically.
- For contacts who don't have iMessage or RCS, start the conversation in a messaging app you both use rather than in your phone's default texting app.
- When your contact is often offline, for example because they keep mobile data off, agree on one app and stick to it; a fallback is most likely when their phone has no connection.
- Test once: send one short message and check how it went out before a long exchange.
How to read the bubble colors and text box labels is explained in when texts on your phone are free.
Save foreign numbers the right way
Store every foreign contact in full international format: a plus sign, the country code, then the number without the leading zero used for domestic calls. Messaging apps rely on this format to match contacts to accounts, and WhatsApp, for example, may not find a foreign contact saved without it.
- The plus sign stands in for the international dialing prefix, such as 011 from the US or 00 from much of Europe.
- Use the code of the country the number belongs to: +44 for the UK, +33 for France, +1 for the US and Canada.
- A French mobile written at home as 06 xx xx xx xx becomes +33 6 xx xx xx xx.
When you're the one abroad
- Your messaging account stays on your home number. Apps such as WhatsApp usually keep working with your existing account when you put a local SIM or travel eSIM in the phone, so friends can still reach you the usual way.
- Tell people at home which app to use. Texts to your home number may not reach you if that line is off, and some plans charge for texting while roaming.
- Plan for login codes. Your bank and other accounts will still text codes to your home number. Keep that line reachable, or set up an authenticator app before you leave; SMS verification and its weak spots explains why. Never route those codes to a public number.
Need to receive a code? Free numbers
Click a number to open its public inbox, enter the number on the signup form, then press Update Messages on the number's page to fetch the code.
Questions
Related guides
Virtual Phone number to receive sms messages online without using your real phone number
Blog
Services
Contact
All rights reserved.