Klal Chat

Klal Chat is a paid alternative to GroupMe SMS for groups whose members do not all have smartphones. Each group gets its own phone number. Anyone texts that number and every member receives the message as an ordinary text, so a flip phone or any basic handset works, with no app, no account and no internet connection.

One person, the group's administrator, signs up for a monthly plan that includes a set number of texts. Members are never billed. Because a group message is delivered to each member individually, a message to a twenty-person group uses twenty texts, and the plans are sized on that basis. There are no overage charges: if a plan runs out the group pauses until the next month or until more texts are added.

The administrator uses a website for signup, billing and checking the balance remaining. Adding and removing members also works by text. Klal Chat does not store the text of messages, and does not sell, rent or share a group's member list. Available for numbers in the United States and Canada.