Android
How to Change the Galaxy Note 5 Text Message App
Now that the new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ have been available for a few weeks in the United States, users are starting to have lots of questions about these impressive big 5.7-inch smartphones. This quick guide will explain how to change or replace the stock text message app on the Galaxy Note 5 for something better, more useful, and more customizable.
Samsung’s Note 5 has a lot to offer with a stunningly bright and colorful 5.7-inch 2k resolution AMOLED display, a powerhouse 8-core processors and 4GB of RAM. It has enough to do just about everything, including running two apps on the screen at the same time. However, today we’ll be showing users how to do something as simple as change the text “Messages” app to something different.
Read: How to Reset a Frozen Galaxy Note 5
Like most manufacturers Samsung has its own text message application specifically for the Galaxy Note 5. It’s called “Messages” and is a decent app. It even looks and operates like stock Android 5.1 Lollipop and uses Google’s material design interface. However, most stock apps aren’t very appealing, don’t have too many features, and aren’t very customizable. Instead, download one of the many 3rd party text apps we’ll detail below.
Samsung’s stock “Messages” app does have some backup options and a few quick controls to swipe and call people, but that’s about it. It is still very limited when compared to the LG G4 app, or apps on the Google Play Store. On Android, users can quickly replace key components like the text app, camera, calendar, gallery and more with alternatives, and below are a few of our favorite text applications.
Read: 5 Best Android Text App Alternatives
When you replace your stock app with something from the Play Store it will likely be customizable with themes or backgrounds, customized font, change the look of the message bubbles or colors and much more. It all depends on which app a user decides to try, and the link above details a few good options, then the guide below will help you change out the messaging app for something a bit more useful.
Instructions
There is now a dedicated option in settings that turns one text app on and the other off, so users won’t get double notifications from both the stock app, and the newly installed option. It won’t let two be set as “default” at once, like old Android smartphones from 2013. With the Note 5 you can download a new app and it will likely make the user set it to default automatically, or follow the steps below.
First things first is you’ll want to navigate to the Google Play Store and download one of the many different third party text apps. Textra is my favorite, GoSMS or Chomp are pretty fancy, and a few others made our list linked to above. Download one, and you’re set. Most change the default app settings for you. Textra will have a big “Set as Default” button on first launch near the bottom. If not, here’s how to do it yourself.
As you see above simply head into settings and under the “Device” column navigate to Applications > Default Applications > and tap “Messages” to change the default text message app. If none are installed, only Samsung’s stock option will be displayed, as well as Google Hangouts. Tap which app you’d like to use (we chose Textra) and you’re all done.
This now sets that app to be the only one that will send, receive, and notify the Galaxy Note 5 of incoming text messages. If you chose something like Textra go in and change the font, style, colors, bubble colors, and even the notification icon can vary by each contact. So owners can set certain notification icon colors to special friends, family, or significant others.
There are countless excellent text messaging applications available on the Google Play Store, and a few of our favorites were linked to above. Give them all a try and see what works best for you. In the meantime, check out the list of 10 awesome Galaxy Note 5 accessories in the slideshow below.
Note 5 S-View Flip Case | |||||||||||
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As expected, the popular S-View case is also available for the Galaxy Note 5, and currently all four colors are for sale online. Black, White, Gold & Silver. The S-View has been popular for years, and protects your device while letting you interact with it without ever opening the case. Basically offering full protection even while you answer calls, take pictures and more. When closed, the S-View cover offers instant access to critical features through a unique window interface, thanks to the Samsung ID chip. View the home screen to check the time, weather and other status items. Accept or reject incoming calls with just a swipe, or reject calls with a preset message. Control your music playback directly on the S-View screen. If you miss anything, notifications are shown in the recent activity menu of your S-View cover. | |||||||||||
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