Texting from a computer: web service or Messages for web?
Typing on a keyboard, with or without your phone within reach.
Two ways to write a text from a computer. A site like Envoyer SMS Gratuit sends the message through a gateway: nothing to install, no account, and the phone can stay switched off. Messages for web (Google Messages, or iPhone-to-Mac continuity) relays the message through your own mobile: it keeps your number and your threads, but the phone must be on, online and paired.
The head-to-head, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Free web service | Messages for web |
|---|---|---|
| What you need at hand | A browser, nothing else | Your phone switched on, online and paired |
| Number shown to the recipient | The shared gateway number | Your own number |
| Replies | They land on the gateway, on the received-SMS page | Straight into your conversation thread |
| Cost | Free, with no account to create | Taken from your mobile plan |
| Getting started | Instant: the form is on the page | A pairing step, to redo when it expires |
To conclude: which one to pick?
Use the free service when your phone is not with you, its battery is flat, or you would rather not hand out your number: a one-off message, a first contact, something to pass on right now. Messages for web stays the better choice for carrying on an existing conversation from your own line, with history and replies in one place — as long as the phone keeps up.
Your most frequently asked questions
Can I send a text from a PC without a phone?
Yes, through a web service: the message leaves from a gateway, not from your line. Messages for web, by contrast, does nothing without a phone switched on and online.
Does the recipient see my number?
Not with the free service: they see the shared gateway number. With Messages for web they see yours, since your own phone is doing the sending.
Where do replies go?
To the gateway: they can be read on the received-SMS page, which is public. For a private answer, name another way of reaching you inside your message.
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Pas de compte à créer, pas de publicité, pas de limite : écrivez votre message, indiquez le mobile, et envoyez-le gratuitement depuis votre navigateur.
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