A modified Textra 2 SMS/messaging app that sends and receives through your phone's Google Messages account (the same mechanism as Messages for web), plus an on-device scam/spam filter.
Instead of running an always-on background service, it uses a zero-background-battery design: a notification listener wakes the app only when Google Messages posts a notification for an incoming message, then connects briefly to sync. (See Notifications below — this is why Google Messages notifications must stay enabled, and why silent is recommended.)
Steps 1–4 are shown on real screenshots captured by driving the app on an emulator. Steps 5–6 happen against your own Google account and your phone, so they are described in text (they need real credentials + the phone's Google Messages and aren't emulator-captured).
In Textra 2's conversation list, tap the ⋮ overflow menu (top-right). Settings is the top item of the dropdown:
In Settings, under General, tap Pro User (the row with the blue ribbon). In this build that entry opens the Google Messages connect screen:
The button opens Google's real sign-in page inside the app. Sign in with the same Google account that your phone's Google Messages app uses — that's the account whose texts you want to send and receive.
Enter email/phone → Next → password → approve any 2-step verification, exactly as in a browser. The app then shows a confirmation emoji. On your phone, Google Messages shows a "pair a new device" prompt with an emoji — check the emojis match, then approve it on the phone. The app shows "Paired to Google Messages."
After pairing, the app prompts for two grants. Both are one-time and persist across reboots (no per-boot setup):
- Notification access — enable "Textra 2 message wake-up". This is how the app knows a new message arrived. Without it, incoming messages won't wake the app.
- Unrestricted battery / disable battery optimization — so the brief on-demand connect isn't delayed while the phone is idle (Doze).
The wake-up mechanism listens for Google Messages' own notifications. So:
- Keep Google Messages installed and its notifications ENABLED. If you turn Google Messages notifications off, Textra 2 will never wake for incoming messages.
- Set Google Messages notifications to Silent. The listener still fires on a silent notification, so wake-up keeps working — but you won't get a sound/buzz/heads-up banner from Google Messages on top of your Textra 2 alert. You get one alert (from Textra 2), not two.
How to silence Google Messages notifications (on your phone):
- Long-press a Google Messages notification → tap the gear / "Silent", or
- Settings → Apps → Messages (Google Messages) → Notifications, and set the message categories to Silent — keep the category toggle ON, just move it from "Default/Alerting" to "Silent".
- (Optional) Hide Google Messages notifications from the lock screen so only Textra 2 shows.
Do not fully disable Google Messages notifications — silent ≠ off. Silent keeps the wake trigger alive while staying quiet.
The app includes an on-device scam/spam filter with its own launcher icon, "Textra Spam
Filter" (SpamSettingsActivity). It classifies incoming messages by matching links and
senders against external threat feeds offline, with optional online lookups. Open the
Textra Spam Filter icon to toggle protection, enable/disable online lookups, set feed
URLs/keys, and refresh feeds.
- Screenshots 1–4 were captured by driving the app on a redroid emulator this session (real UI render). On the emulator the overflow menu draws its top Settings item beneath the toolbar, so it's marked with a callout; on a normal phone it appears as a normal top menu row.
- Steps 5–6 (Google credential entry, emoji match, paired confirmation, silent-notification screens) require a real Google account + a phone with Google Messages, so they are documented in text and not emulator-captured here.
Latest APK in this repo: textra2_v1.07.0.apk (package com.textra2). See CHANGELOG.md
and docs/ for build details and the engine integration kit.