On most Android phones, Google Messages does two jobs. It’s your SMS app, and it’s Google’s RCS chat app. Replacing it means splitting those jobs. Signal takes over conversations with the people you talk to most, and a simple SMS app handles everything else. The setup takes 15 minutes. Getting your family to follow takes longer.
Why leave if Google Messages already encrypts chats? Google Messages has encrypted one-to-one RCS chats since 2021 and group chats since 2023. The app, your contact list and the metadata (who you text, and when) still sit with Google, and anything that falls back to SMS travels unencrypted. In June 2025 Google also told users that from 7 July 2025, Gemini could work with Messages and WhatsApp on their phones even with Gemini Apps Activity turned off.
Quick Comparison
| Alternative | Best for | Price (Oct 2026) | Encryption | Based in | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | Chats, calls and family groups | Free; optional backups about $1.99/month | End-to-end, always on | USA (non-profit foundation) | Yes |
| Threema | Messaging with no phone number | About 6.00 one-time (currency depends on your app store) | End-to-end | Switzerland | Yes |
| Fossify Messages | Your default SMS app | Free | None (SMS isn’t encrypted) | Community project | Yes |
| Google Messages | Keeping RCS | Free | End-to-end for RCS chats; SMS isn’t | USA (Google) | No |
Who Does What Between SMS, RCS and Signal
Three different systems end up in your messaging app, and they behave differently when you leave Google.
- SMS and MMS is the old texting system every phone supports. It isn’t encrypted. Verification codes from banks and websites arrive this way, and any SMS app can send and receive it.
- RCS is the upgraded texting standard that Google Messages uses. Chats are encrypted between Google Messages users. Between iPhone and Android, encrypted RCS has been in beta since 11 May 2026 and depends on your carrier. If you switch to another SMS app, your chats fall back to SMS and MMS.
- Signal is a separate messenger that runs over the internet. Both people need the app, and every message is encrypted.
The Alternatives, One by One
Signal
Signal is run by Signal Messenger LLC, owned by the Signal Foundation, a US non-profit. Every message, call and group chat is end-to-end encrypted.
- Pick it for strong encryption by default, no ads, and usernames (since 2024) so you can share a handle instead of your number. Secure Backups, launched in September 2025, are free for all your text (up to 100 MiB) plus the last 45 days of media.
- Watch for these deal-breakers. You need a phone number to register. Signal no longer handles SMS on Android. The desktop app only works linked to a phone. It only helps with people who install it too.
- It’s free and funded by donations. Paid backups of your full media history (up to 100 GB) are about $1.99/month (Oct 2026). Secure Backups came to Android first.
- It runs on Android, iPhone, Windows, macOS and Linux.
Signal group calls also cover most family video calls, with up to 75 people. Our Google Meet alternatives page compares them with Proton Meet and Jitsi for calls with people outside Signal.
On phones without Google Play services, Molly, a Signal fork, can deliver notifications through UnifiedPush. Our phone guide explains how push notifications work on a degoogled phone.
Fossify Messages
An open-source SMS and MMS app for Android from the Fossify project, and a regular on community recommendation lists. Make it your default SMS app for verification codes, appointment reminders and anyone who won’t use Signal.
- Pick it because it’s free, open source, and does one job without Google.
- The deal-breaker is that it handles SMS and MMS only, so no RCS and no encryption.
- Another option is QUIK, an open-source SMS app you’ll see recommended. Check that it’s still actively updated before you rely on it.
Threema
A Swiss messenger that needs no phone number or email address. You pay once, about 6.00 in your local currency, and the apps are open source with reproducible builds. Threema Work is the business version. If your team or family chats in Google Chat, our Google Chat alternatives page compares Threema with Signal, Element and Zulip for groups.
- Choose it if you want a messenger that isn’t tied to your phone number, or you prefer a European company.
- The deal-breaker is that, because it’s paid, fewer of your contacts will already have it.
SimpleX Chat is another open-source, end-to-end encrypted option for people who want to go further than Signal. Expect it to be even harder to get family onto.
Staying on Google Messages
Partial is fine. If most of your contacts use Android and RCS works well for you, keeping Google Messages for everyday texting is a reasonable choice. Move the conversations that matter most (family, partner, health, money) to Signal and leave it there. You can come back to the rest later.
Contain WhatsApp Instead of Fighting It
If your family group, school parents or sports club live on WhatsApp, you may not win that fight. The usual answer in degoogling communities is Signal for everyone you can move, and WhatsApp kept in a box for the rest.
On GrapheneOS, the box is real. Put sandboxed Google Play and WhatsApp in a separate user or work profile, and WhatsApp only sees the contacts and files in that profile. On other phones, keep WhatsApp but review its permissions, and don’t let it become your main messenger by default. The phone guide explains profiles and sandboxed Google Play.
Getting Your Family Onto Signal
The technical setup is the easy part. The real work is people.
- Start with your top 10–20 contacts and ask each one personally. A direct message works better than an announcement.
- Help in person. Installing Signal takes a few minutes when you’re sitting next to someone.
- Move the family group in one go. Create the group on Signal and add everyone. Then post a pinned “we moved” message with the invite link in the old group, and pick a cut-over date. Group admins should lead this.
- Share your username, not your number, with new contacts.
- Keep texting the holdouts by SMS. Nobody needs to be 100% on Signal for it to be worth it.
How to Switch From Google Messages
Start by Backing up Your Texts
Don’t count on Google Takeout for your texts. Use an app on the phone.
- Install SMS Import / Export from F-Droid. It’s a free, open-source app that exports your SMS and MMS messages to a zip file.
- Run an export of your messages, then copy the zip file to your computer or another safe place.
Turn off RCS in Google Messages
- Open Google Messages, go to its settings, open RCS chats and turn it off. Older versions call this setting chat features. Do this before you change your default app or your phone. Otherwise messages sent to you over RCS can get stuck.
Make Fossify Messages Your Default
- Install Fossify Messages.
- Open Settings → Apps → Default apps → SMS app and choose Fossify Messages. Your SMS and MMS history should appear in it. Conversations that went over RCS may not, so check the threads you care about before you go further.
- Moving to a new phone? Install SMS Import / Export there and import the zip. Android only lets the default SMS app write messages, so it will ask to become the default during the import. Switch back to Fossify Messages afterward.
Set up Signal
- Install Signal, register with your phone number, and create a username.
- In Signal’s privacy settings, set who can see your phone number to Nobody, and turn on Registration Lock.
- Turn on Secure Backups if you want them. The free tier covers all your text and the last 45 days of media.
- Message your first few contacts and invite them.
Retire Google Messages Last
- After a week or two without problems, open Settings → Apps → See all apps, pick Google Messages and tap Disable. On many phones it’s a system app that can only be disabled, not uninstalled.
- If you remove your Google account from the phone, Google’s automatic SMS backup stops too. Repeat the SMS Import / Export backup every few months.
If your texts go through a Google Voice number, sort that out first. See our Google Voice alternatives. On iPhone, Google Messages doesn’t exist, but the Signal advice is the same.