I thought I could go back to using the default SMS app and simply use Pro Switcher to let me pause my games while I answered text messages, but it just hasn’t been working out. The SMS app still takes a bit too long to load up, and it pales in comparison to some of the jailbreak SMS apps out there. I’m a real iRealQuickSMS fan, but I thought I would try something different this time around. A lot of commenters have mentioned biteSMS on various articles on this site, so I thought I’d finally get around to giving it a shot. I’m glad I did.
Replacement SMS App
biteSMS can become your default SMS app, but I still use the biteSMS Springboard icon because the one for Messages still leads to the default app. Aside from that little bug, however, everything else has gone quite smoothly for me. Threaded messages show up perfectly within the app and I even have it set up to show contact display pictures.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that my Winterboard SMS theme carried over nicely, so biteSMS really does feel like the best of both worlds.
The app features a very clean design, with all of the extra features tucked nicely into hidden menus (smileys, templates, timed sending options) at the bottom of the screen.
Quick Compose and Quick Reply
One of the coolest things about biteSMS (and my other favourite iRealQuickSMS) is the quick compose window, accessible through a quick tap of the volume button and then another tap on the middle of the screen. The top text field lets you call up contacts by typing their names out or by using your iPhone’s Favourites list. The field just below that is where you type your texts out, and I am very grateful to biteSMS for including a handy dandy little character countdown that appears above the “Send” button. This countdown even turns into a badge should your text become so long that it has to be sent over multiple messages.
Quick replies look very similar, but only show one text field, with the incoming message above. One notable difference between biteSMS and iRealQuicksms, however, is that the whole text shows up without the need to scroll. I often have long text convos with friends, so this small difference is a real time saver for me.
Minor Winterboard note
If you want to skin the biteSMS icon, the Matte Nano theme has a .png called BiteSMS. This has to be lower case (“biteSMS”) for the icon to be skinned properly.
Trial Version
I’ve been using the full-featured trial version of biteSMS for a little while now, and it’s given me a whole month to decide whether or not I like it enough to buy it. The full license costs $13 and allows you unlimited usage of the application, although I’ll probably end up purchasing a 50 biteSMS credits for $6 instead. These credits can be sent to almost any country in the world, and they’re usually cheaper than buying an SMS bundle from your carrier. This doesn’t matter for me since my Rogers plan includes unlimited SMS, but each purchase of biteSMS credits comes with a one-year license to use the biteSMS application as well, so that works out quite well for me. I figure that I’ll be on to a newer iPhone or a newer firmware in a year’s time, and that’s also plenty of time for the default iPhone SMS app to mature and hopefully catch up to its jailbreak alternatives.
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You can find biteSMS through Rock App or Cydia.
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