Review: Electric Pocket’s TxtForward
[rating: 6.5] 6.5
Link: http://electricpocket.com
Cost: $7.95 @ The BerryReview Store
TxtForward is a very simple application with a huge potential. The software takes incoming SMS messages and forwards them to the email address of your choice. Now many people wonder “Why in the heck would I want to do this?” Well, there are many reasons!
- Great way to permanently archive your text messages by forwarding them to a Gmail account where they will be archived forever.
- If you have multiple devices, you can get all your SMS messages delivered on one device.
- If your place of business doesn’t allow you to have your cell phone at work, you can forward messages to your email and never miss an important text.
- Maybe you have a completely different idea up your sleeve. 😉
This software is not perfect however, I do have a few gripes. When you receive an incoming text message, the “From” field displays; “txtForward”. I would much rather see something along the lines of “txt-406-555-555” or something that let you know who was messaging you. If you reply to one of the messages using the “r” key, the address you reply to is [email protected] rather than the actual phone number of the person who texted you. There is also no form of threaded messages, which is particularly annoying when a message is longer than 160 characters, as the application splits those texts into two separate emails.
Pros:
- Easily archive messages to your email.
- Receive SMS messages via email when you don’t have your phone handy.
- Small program and incredibly simple to use.
Cons:
- No threaded messages.
- 160-character max limit.
- Reply-to address issue.
- Kind of pricey for as simple as it is.
Summary:
All in all, the application has enabled me to archive my text messages in case I ever need to look back at them for work. And for that reason alone it is worth the $8 bucks. After all, this is only version 1.0 of the application. I’m sure that, with a bit more interest from you folks, the developers will be back to work and make it better! This program has all the potential in the world and I hope the development team realizes that!
DavidB Not Registered
Posted: July 30, 2008 at 10:58 AM EST
I wish I could get a service (I guess the carrier would have to supply it) that blocked all SMS coming to my phone, but rather than just drop them into the bit bucket it forwarded them to me as either PIN messages or Email. Since both are essentially unlimited in quantity, and don’t cost per message like SMS does (some of us ARE on a budget and don’t want the extra $10/month per phone charge for unlimited texting), would be a nice alternative to the options we have now (pay per message, pay for unlimited, or completely block all SMS).
haephaestus Not Registered
Posted: July 30, 2008 at 11:16 AM EST
Their customer service is excellent. Before they had a trial, I had some issues and concerns. Their support person did a great job taking time out to test some of those issues and scenarios with me. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Electric Pocket, even back in the Treo days.
moestepp Not Registered
Posted: January 25, 2009 at 11:50 AM EST
This app works really well..I have it on my 16 year old sons Storm…hidden of course, so I can keep up with what he is doing! I don’t want him out getting into trouble!
aj Not Registered
Posted: April 1, 2009 at 1:12 AM EST
I have a question about hiding the program. I would like to place this on my daughters phone, but am wondering if it pops up with any confirmation on the phone itself. Does the program forward sms without letting the operator of the phone know?
haephaestus Not Registered
Posted: April 1, 2009 at 1:24 AM EST
aj, the forwarding of txt messages is transparent to the user. I don’t even notice any delay and no pop-ups whatsoever are shown. Hope this helps!
Cheers!