TextNow 101: Calling

With TextNow, domestic calling is super-easy and free — and international calling is available, too, at reasonable rates. Here's what to know.

How to start talking with TextNow

Open up the TextNow app and tap on the phone icon in the upper right corner.

This brings up the dialer page of the app:

Pretty simple, right? Tap the buttons to dial a number, or tap on contacts to choose from your contacts app on your phone.

Once you're in the call, you'll see this display:

The icons access these functions:

• Mute: Turns off your microphone. Tap it again to unmute.
• Speaker: Puts the call on speakerphone (so the call audio routes to the speaker of your phone, as opposed to the earpiece). Tap again to return audio to the earpiece.
• Pause/hold: Puts the person you're calling on hold. Tap it again to unpause/remove hold.
• Three-way calling: Tap on that button to add another caller to the current call.

As you can see, there's an ad on this display — in-app ads are how we keep the service free to you. But you always have the option to upgrade to get rid of ads, as well!

How to make international calls with TextNow

You may not be aware that TextNow also has affordable rates for international calling, but it's true! You can check out our current rates on our website. You can also get to it in the app, of course. Here's how!

First, let's go back up to the dialer page. See that bit at the top? It shows the country you are preparing to dial.

By default, TextNow is set to call numbers in the U.S. and Canada. Note how it says "free" underneath? That's because calling to any phone in the U.S. & Canada is free with TextNow!

Now let's say I wanted to call Belgium. Maybe I need to order some waffles or something. Tap above where it says "free" and that'll bring you to a list of countries you can call with TextNow, like this:

If a country has "not supported" under it, then TextNow does not support calls to that country. In this case, we're looking for Belgium. You can either scroll down to it or use the search bar at the top to type in the country you're looking to call. Tap on it, and you'll be back to the dialer, but instead of Canada & USA at the top, we now see:

Belgium! Land of chocolate, waffles, beer, and I assume Brussels sprouts. Note it no longer says "free" (though some countries will be). But you can give Bruges a call for 1 cent a minute! You'll need international long-distance credits to call supported countries — just head into "My Wallet" in the menu of the mobile app to buy credits.