A several months ago we introduced free calling and free voicemail. However, when your friends reach your voicemail, they are greeted with a boring voicemail greeting.

Not anymore, you can now record your own voicemail greeting so your friends can hear you before they leave a voicemail.

Below, we will show you how to record your own voicemail greeting with the latest version of TextNow + Voice for iOS (4.4.10).

First, go to ‘Settings’ by tapping on the gear cog by the bottom left of the app.

Once you are in ‘Settings’, tap on ‘Voicemail’.

Once you are in ‘Voicemail Settings’, tap ‘Custom Greeting’. Afterwards, an audio recorder will appear near the bottom. Tap on the red record button to start recording your new voicemail greeting. Once you are finished, tap the red stop button. You can hit the play button to playback your recording. If you are unhappy with your recording, you can tap ‘New Recording’ to start over. Once you are happy with your recording, tap ‘Save’.

Voila! You have set your own new voicemail greeting. Now get your friends to call your TextNow phone number and see if they hear the new greeting.

If you have any questions or ran into any issues, feel free to reach out to our support team at http://support.textnow.com.

Happy Texting!

With text messaging, language has evolved as well.  Who hasn’t heard of LOL, a word which has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (and which doesn’t mean Lots of Love, as some people think).

Let us know what you think of the infographic.  How often do you text?  Do you text more than you phone?   Give us all your text-related comments and opinions in the comments section below. ROTFL!  Cya!

Some of these improvements include:

• Free Calling for All TextNow Users – Earn Credits or Place Ad-Supported Calls
• A Beautifully Redesigned iPad App- Now with Free Calling
• A Free Phone Number for Every User
• Local Canadian Phone Numbers with a Huge Selection of Area Codes
• Launch of TextNow.com – Sign into your TextNow Account Anywhere!
• A Rebuild of our Server Technologies to Make TextNow Even More Reliable

All of these enhancements have been made with our users in mind – We want to make your experience with TextNow more enjoyable and even richer. Not only do we appreciate the loyalty and all of the feedback that our users have shown, we promise to continue to listen to everything you have to say and in turn provide any and all improvements and enhancements where possible!

There is no good answer other than negligence. Fortunately however, recent Canadian and US laws governing the use of cell phones while operating a motor vehicle have been enacted to promote safer driving and are even enforced with heavy fines (some maximum fines have been set as high as $785.00).

So, don’t sit by idly by while careless drivers continue to cause accidents by choosing not to put down their mobile phones – be an example and say NO to texting while driving.

~ @gjrevans

A world record is defined as the best global performance ever recorded in any verified skill or sport. These achievements often range from the best and worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond. Recently we heard that the someone had broken the world record for fastest texting and we got an idea…

Why not invite YOU, The TextNow Nation, to try and break the record yourselves – And then we thought, why not give away an iPod touch while were at it!

To break the world record, Guinness requires you to text the following phrase in 25.94 seconds or less:

“The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.”

So do you have what it takes – Are you ready for the fame, fortune and glory of being a world record holder?

Contest Rules:

1. Create a video of you typing the phrase above in the TextNow application. Post the video on YouTube and name it “TextNow’s Fastest Texter – Record Breaking Attempt”. * NOTE: Please make sure there is some sort of stop watch in your video so that we can keep track of the time!
2. Share the video with your friends and family – The video with the most views by December 20th will win a Brand New iPod Touch!
3. You can also enter the fastest texter giveaway for 5000 TextNow credits by posting your video on the TextNow facebook page. These Credits can be used to both unlock TextNow enhancements as well as place ad-free phone calls.

That’s it! So what are you waiting for?! - Go break a world record!

If you think you have beaten the record, please contact Guinness World Records. All officially recognized Guinness World Records attempts start by completing and submitting an application accessible HERE.

Please visit Guinness World Records Web site in order to receive record guidelines and other important record-specific information.

For any questions, find me on twitter: @gjrevans

Perhaps the most frustrating bills to deal with, our mobile phone bills have becoming an increasing pain in our “you know whats.” It’s common knowledge that carrier prices are continually increasing and resulting so, its almost impossible to feel good about spending that increasing chunk of your monthly income on this everyday service.

What you may not know is that a text message only costs a carriers less than one penny to route between mobile phones. However, on our end we find some carriers charging us as much as 20 cents to send a text and another 20 cents to receive one. In her article on Texting Apps Kate Murphy of the NY Times estimates that these fees adds up to an incredible $20 billion a year in revenue for the wireless industry. In turn this has created a great deal frustration from consumers who feel abused by the absurd prices.

Fortunately for us, we no longer have to pay these silly texting fees. With TextNow we avoid these monthly text message fees and even more excitingly, can now make FREE phone calls to anyone in Canada or the United States! TextNow also offers free access to accounts online at http://www.TextNow.com where conversations from a device can be continued seamlessly.

Let’s get a little mathy for a minute shall we? I promise I’ll keep it simple. We’ve calculated that a single text message sent via a TextNow uses approximately 160 bytes of data and that most of our cellphone data plans range between 2 and 10 gigabytes of useage per month (one gigabyte is about a billion bytes) costing about $20-$100 respectively. Given those figures and using the TextNow application, we could send 12,500,000 messages per every 2 gigabytes of data used. That seems like more than enough to me and I text with the best of them. Now lets say we were to pay for each of those messages at the generic carrier rate of 20 cents a message – we would be looking at a bill somewhere in the realm of $2,500,000! – Whoa! Let’s avoid that one shall we!

In the end, it just doesn’t make sense to pay carriers for text messaging fees when we can use TextNow instead. If you haven’t yet, be a little cliché and jump on the band wagon already! Get TextNow and stop wasting your money!

Download TextNow: http://bit.ly/TextNow

~ @gjrevans

We are excited to announce that TextNow will now be available through an online web app – check it out here: www.TextNow.com. Simply enter your TextNow address (“username@TextNow.me”) and password into the login fields and you will instantly be logged into your TextNow account. You will find that all messages stay in-sync as you switch from TextNow.com to your iDevice so that you can carry on your conversations wherever you are!

Download TextNow on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch: http://bit.ly/TextNow

Let us know what you think of TextNow.com in the comments below!

With over 8 Million users in the United States currently enjoying all the awesome benefits of TextNow, we are very excited to announce the Canadian release of TextNow. That means TextNow is now available to download in the Canadian iTunes App Store! Beginning today iOS users will be able to get their very own Canadian TextNow account with their very own FREE Canadian phone number. This means no more long distance texting fees for your Canadian friends and no more texting fees for you!

WHAT IS TEXTNOW?
Our TextNow application provides users with a FREE service to both send and receive unlimited text messages, no strings attached! TextNow users receive a dedicated phone number that is tied directly to their iPod, iPad or iPhone. Turn your iPod or iPad into a phone or simply avoid those ridiculously expensive texting fees! Get the latest version HERE and start Texting till your fingers are sore!

Some of the cool features you’ll find in TextNow include a completely customizable user interface (change backgrounds, ringtones, colour schemes and more), lightning fast texting speeds and full iOS contact book integration so you can text your friends quickly and easily.

As a TextNow user you’ll also have access to our extensive customer support forum HERE where you’ll find all the answers to any of your TextNow questions.

So save yourself that annoying monthly texting fee and Download TextNow right away!

Let us know in the comments below what sort of features you would like to see in the next version of TextNow!

– Share TextNow with your friends on Twitter! –

TextNow is a free application for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that is available for download from the Apple iTunes store. With our latest version, we’ve fixed some of those pesky bugs that have been laying around as well as included some very exciting enhancements.

TEXTNOW DEMO

FREE VOICE CALLING

First off, we are very proud to announce FREE VOICE CALLING for all iOS devices! Beginning this week, all TextNow users will be granted access to TextNow+Voice (previously $29.99/Year) with absolutely no need to upgrade. 
You’re likely wondering how we can provide this service at no cost. Well, the first thing we’ve done is expand our TextNow credit system to give users the access to thousands of new credit earning options. For example, signing up for Netflix earns a user 817 credits while watching a short 15-second video earns them between 3 and 10 credits. Every credit earned counts as one minute towards a user’s calling account and most of the offers cost absolutely nothing to participate in. Initially implemented to give users free access to additional TextNow enhancements, the credit system has seen incredible success and will now give everyone the ability to make free phone calls, from their real phone number. Don’t want to build up credits before hand, no problem, users can also simply place a call, watch an advertisement and then instantly be connected.

UPDATED INTERFACE

When you first login to TextNow 4.4, you will notice that we’ve improved the look and feel of the application.

A new name, cleaner and crisper icons and a more intuitive way to navigate around. Don’t worry though, we haven’t changed how easy it is to stay in contact with your friends and family and all of your conversations will be listed for you as they were before.

Need to make a call?  Simply click the telephone or dialer icon at the top of the screen.  Need to send out an important Text Message to your buddies to hook up for coffee?  That’s easy!  Just click on the text bubble.  Option icons along the bottom of the main screen remain relatively the same. A single click to review application options, your profile details, in-app store and help and support.

IPAD CALLING

Although voice calling isn’t necessarily something new for TextNow, it’s been improved in TextNow 4.4, and it’s now also available on your iPad!

You can now use your iPad or iPad 2 to make and receive phone calls the same way that you’re used to on your iPhone or iPod Touch. We’ve also taken the time to upgrade our dialer to make it that much easier for you to quickly and easily make those important calls.

Have you found yourself low on minutes and not able to make any calls?  With TextNow 4.4 we’ve introduced a new way to earn credits to purchased minutes. You can simply watch short videos that earn you credits for free.  Credits can be used for calling minutes, remove ads or enhance your TextNow experience with sound packs or wallpaper!

SYNCHRONIZE MESSAGES

Using TextNow on multiple devices? Although not new in TextNow 4.4, we wanted to you remind you of something very handy if you use multiple devices.  Signing in with the same TextNow account on multiple devices gives you a synchronized view of all of your conversations.  Both incoming and outgoing messages appear on all of your devices so you can always switch from one to the other without a problem.

WHEN CAN I GET IT?

TextNow 4.4 is now live in the iTunes App Store. Open the App Store from your device and install the update!

– DOWNLOAD TEXTNOW –