If you own an iPhone, you probably use it to stay in touch with all of your international contacts. International texting on iPhone is easy and inexpensive, as is international calling if you know which apps to use.

Apps for International Calling and Texting on iPhone

Google voice has good rates for international calling on iPhones. You can have your voicemails transcribed, and there are other features that make this a nice, well rounded app. Unfortunately, without technical configurations which are beyond the skills of the Average Joe, this service is not available outside the US.

MilliTalk is an app that basically adds an extra phone line to your iPhone by creating a special number for you, thus allowing cheap international calls and texts. You can buy credits or sign up for a plan using the app.

TextNow + Voice is another app that allows international calling and texting and is ad supported instead of requiring a monthly commitment or credits, although you can skip ads by paying $5.99 a month for unlimited texting and calls. It also has a dedicated phone number and voicemail.

Textie Messaging works differently from other iPhone texting apps; instead of assigning you a phone number, the app uses your email address so when your recipient receives a text, your email address will be displayed in the "from" line. You can still receive messages right to the app, use push notifications, and send one text to multiple recipients. 

iMessage - Perfect for iProduct Families

A lot of people love that iPhone has stepped up their game and provided a feature that used to be available only to Blackberry users - an internal messaging system! iMessage allows you to send unlimited texts over wifi for free using iMessage, and is built into the messages app, so there’s no need to purchase or activate this feature.

Of course, iMessage is only free if using Wi-Fi and sending messages to other iPhone users with iMessage on their phones. If you have access to Wi-Fi and both you and the person you are wishing to text have iMessage, this is a great option. Checkout our article here to make sure you know how to avoid data roaming charges when abroad but keep the option of using iMessage.