No download needed: The rise of SMS-based 'apps'

No download needed: The rise of SMS-based 'apps'

Apps aren't going anywhere, but lately more companies are offering services through text messaging. Here's what you need to know.

Josh Miller/CNET

Before Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat, texting was the number one way to communicate, and according to the developers behind a new wave of apps, texting is still king.

In recent months, there's been an explosion of what I'm calling no-app "apps." These services use SMS to communicate with you and carry out actions that you would ordinarily do in an app. You send a text toa specific phone number and within seconds you'll get an appropriate reply to your question or request.

Meant to be as streamlined as possible, with no design or UI to navigate, there's hardly anything standing between you and the service, which span from personal assistants to money management.

Why not have an app?

Apps are huge part of our smartphones, so why would developers want to ditch them? In part because it's much easier just to build a service that interacts with you over text. Instead of pouring resources into designing and building a native app, developers can just focus on creating an amazing service.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Below I'll highlight four SMS-based "apps" that have been gaining attention lately, covering what they do and some of the downsides of them.

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Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Cloe

First up is Cloe, a personal assistant that knows your city inside and out. "She" can give you recommendations for restaurants, stores and services like hair salons or florists. Billed as a more personal version of Siri, you can ask Cloe for help deciding between businesses or just find local hot spots. Instead of just showing you a list of search results, like Google or Siri, Cloe will zero in on one particular suggestion and give you all the info you need.

In my testing, Cloe was fast, responsive and more engaging than just searching for an answer myself. She'll offer more human-like tips that you won't necessarily find elsewhere. The service is part bot, part human, so it can find you results fast, but also understand your more nuanced requests, like a tailor in downtown San Francisco open until 6pm tonight.

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Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Magic

While Cloe will help you find a place to go, Magic will help bring things to you. You can text the service to order food, purchase nearly any product and even book airline tickets.

Magic gets your payment information up front so it can make purchases on your behalf, with your consent. You don't get much control, especially when it comes to food, but that's the point; the service is supposed to cut out a lot of the work for you. For instance, if you want to order a pizza, you can simply tell it "I want a cheese pizza and a liter of Pepsi," Magic will find a suitable option, confirm the purchase price and send it to you.

While Magic has the potential to be a personal assistant that does everything for you, the real-world results are mixed. Writing for Wired, Brent Rose had a positive experience where Magic came through for all of his requests, while Jason Del Ray at Recode had some issues. I didn't get to try out Magic (I'm still on the waitlist), but I can't help but think that it's a lot like Kozmo.com, which flopped in the tech bubble.

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Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Ask Alexis

For guys who want advice to woo a lady, Alexis can help. You text Alexis for tips on date ideas and she'll give you recommendations for places to go, wine tips, style advice and more. I tested out the service and the advice I got was great, if a little delayed. My first query took several hours to answer, but once I made a connection with her, Alexis helped with my request.

I asked for tips for a low-key first date under the pseudonym Sean, and Alexis asked me how my date and I met and where the date would take place. After some back and forth, she gave me a suggestion for a dessert bar, with a description and website.

Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Digit

Unlike the personal assistant services on this list, Digit is all about helping you save money, without you noticing. You connect your bank account on Digit's website, using your bank's online portal, and then the service keeps tabs on your spending.

Over time, it figures how much you spend in a typical week and when your bills are due to identify how much money you can save without missing it. With your permission, Digit will save that money into a separate, FDIC-insured account that you can deduct from at anytime. I wish that Digit was able to save money for me in my own savings account, instead of a separate account.

Digit also texts you your balance every day and you can text it to get that information on demand, as well as your upcoming bills, recent transactions and savings balance.

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Google's mobile network could offer free international 'roaming'

Google's mobile network could offer free international 'roaming'

Negotiations with Hutchison Whampoa could mean subscribers get free use of mobile phone networks in the UK, Hong Kong, and other countries, according to the UK's Independent.

Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of products, announces Google's mobile network plans at Mobile World Congress in March.Stephen Shankland/CNET

Google reportedly is in talks with the operator of the UK's Three and several other mobile networks to let subscribers use its upcoming mobile phone service without charge while abroad.

Google hopes to offer customers free use of its upcoming network while outside the US, with none of the traditional "roaming" fees travelers pay,according to a report Saturday in the Telegraph. That option is the subject of negotiations between Google and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, the UK newspaper said, citing unnamed industry sources.

Hutchison Whampoa would be a potentially powerful global partner to help Google cut roaming fees. It operates the UK's Three network and is trying to acquire the UK's O2 network from Telefonica. It also operates networks in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Ireland.

In March, Google announced plans to offer mobile phone network service in coming months through partnerships to use other operators' network infrastructure. Although Google's product chief Sundar Pichai said the service will be "smaller scale," it could shake up the market by resetting customer expectations for what a network should offer and how much it could cost.

Roaming fees are a painful part of mobile phone service for people who travel outside their home countries. They can be socked with steep fees for calls, text messages and Internet data transfer -- unless they choose to forgo mobile phone service while traveling.

Relief from roaming fees has become a selling point for carriers trying to challenge larger incumbents. For example, T-Mobile USA offers some free international roaming benefits and has lured customers away from the top US carriers, AT&T and Verizon.

And in France, Iliad Group's Free Mobile offers 35 days of text, data and calling per year in 15 other countries, mostly European countries but expanding overseas to Canada in March.

Hutchison Whampoa and Google didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

European Commission politicians have been trying to cut roaming fees within Europe as part of a move to a unified telecommunications market -- one in which phone service travels across European borders as easily as Europeans themselves. But carriers rely heavily on roaming fees generated through partnerships with other carriers. The European Commission had hoped to end roaming fees in December 2015, but member states instead agreed only to push for lower roaming fees until at least 2018 in negotiations with the European Parliament.

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How to stay safe online

How to stay safe online: CNET's security checklist

Do you have good habits? Safeguard your personal information against the most common Internet perils by taking these security measures.

Josh Miller/CNET

It's always better to be safe than sorry. Especially when it comes to your personal information. Keeping your info secure online requires you to take more time and care, but what you lose in moments you'll surely make up in peace of mind.

Follow the steps below to increase your online security.

Protecting your password

Sure, you're not likely to openly share your password with people you don't trust, but unfortunately you don't have to go that far for it to be compromised. Yes, keeping passwords to yourself is a smart first step, but there is room to go further.

One tip is to choose a password that isn't easy for others to guess. Computer security expert, Bruce Scheier, suggests to "Combine a personally memorable sentence with some personally memorable tricks to modify that sentence into a password." So if your sentence is "When I was eleven my sister made me fight the neighborhood bully", your password could be "Wiw11msmmFtnbully". Obviously, don't use that one, but instead come up with your own.

Be sure to check out our password guide for more details on creating a secure password. Also, getting a password manager can make keeping track of passwords much more convenient.

Sharon Profis/CNET

Keep your email from getting hacked

Believe it or not, even in the age of Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and text messages, people still use email to communicate. And as a consequence, emails still get hacked. As many times as computer users have been told not to click attachments from untrustworthy sources -- or sometimes even from people you do know -- apparently we still click on them. Which unfortunately can lead to your email being hacked or some nefarious program being installed on your machine. So seriously, stop doing that.

If you get an attachment from someone you know that you were not expecting, check with the sender to confirm it was sent on purpose. Clicking on a malicious attachment can install malware on your machine, like a worm or virus.

Here are no less than 10 other ways protect your email from being compromised.

Shopping online

If you're using your credit card to shop online, there is risk that your information will be stolen and used to buy something against your will. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Only use your credit on websites with the prefix, "https". The "s" in https indicates that the site in question is using a secure protocol to encrypt communications between you and the website. You'll see this protocol used on online banking sites and shopping sites if you're looking at sensitive information.

If you don't see "https", the chances of your information being compromised increases. For more detailed and specialized information on protecting your info online, check out our guides on shopping safely online and protecting your credit card online.

Lexy Savvides/CNET

Better account protection

When most users log into their accounts, they enter their username and a password and they're in. This is known as single-factor authorization and it is indeed secure, but there's an even more secure way to log into important accounts.

Tw0-factor authorization uses an additional security credential to access an account like a fingerprint or a unique pattern. This way, if someone does gain access to your basic login information, they'd also need access to your fingerprint or unique pattern to access your account info.

CNET How To gives you a detailed overview on how to enable two-factor authentication anywhere. If you're looking only to enable two-factor authorization on popular websites or two-step verification on the iPhone, we have you covered there as well.

Dig in to discover a simple way to make your accounts more secure.

Josh Miller/CNET

Protecting your mobile device

Most of the tips outlined above can also be used on your smartphone or tablet, but for more specific mobile device security tips, check out these seven smartphone security tips and our iOS 8 privacy guide for some useful tips specific to the iPhone and iPad.

Staying secure

Look, there's pretty much nothing you can do if someones wants to get your personal information and has the time and means. Sometimes it's out of your hands; however, the tips outlined above are things you can control. Focusing on that is your best bet.

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