RResidents in Japan

Messaging family and friends back home

  • April 12, 2026

I am curious what apps people use here to message those you keep in contact with back home. My carrier just recently got RCS activated on their network, so I was excited to use it as many I know don’t use iPhones. Unfortunately, I discovered that iOS will default to SMS without a prompt if RCS is undeliverable costing me an international charge in the process. I know apps like WhatsApp and Messenger are popular, but was wondering what others might be using.

by Suspicious-Group2363

26 comments

  1. I used to be a Skype user & had a phone number from my hometown for almost a decade. When Skype shut down I went with Tello at an around $8.50 USD a month & transfered my US number there.

    I primary use it now for messaging with family. Skype didn’t allow photos or videos & family often sent those & I would never receive it so they would think they had a wrong number or I was ignoring them. With Tello I can send anything & no extra charges. It’s an extra eSIM on my Pixel phone.

    I don’t have US messengers on my phone like whatsapp, or facebook so it works well for older family & younger ones too.

  2. Discord, FB Messenger and iMessage with other iPhone users as it uses Wi-Fi messaging to deliver if international and Google Voice for 2fa SMS or if I need to call back to the U.S.

  3. Facebook was peaking when I was in high school, so all of my friends still use messenger.
    Idk about other parts of the western world, but all of my friends back home in Ontario otherwise exclusively use SMS. So the ones not using social media I have effectively lost contact with.
    I convinced my mom to use LINE somehow.

  4. got my mother on ‘line’ in the US and now can call her for free… can’t beat it

  5. I switched to Line after the demise of Skype but IDK how popular/available it is outside of Japan. Microsoft replaced Skype with Teams but I haven’t used it.

  7. I use messenger and WhatsApp for non iPhone users outside Japan. I would happily never use LINE but like most know it’s the go to in Japan for most people.

  8. I’ve found Amazon Echo Show devices pretty nifty, and more importantly, extremely user friendly for my elderly parents. A simple voice command, and we’re video chatting; and by enabling “drop-in” permissions, it gives us peace of mind that we can always check in on each other anytime. We also have [Google Location Sharing](https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7326816) enabled on our phones, so we can easily see if the other person is home, or out.

    I learnt about them early on in the pandemic. Another friend of mine got a set for his parents, and they kept their living rooms “virtually connected” 24/7, allowing the grandparents and grand kids to interact daily when they had to refrain from visiting each other. They would put it on the dining room table, and eat meals together and talk during that time.

    I found the 8″ units better for them (due to their poor eyesight), and I have a 5″ unit on my desk.

    For friends, WhatsApp/Line/Facebook/emails are the main methods of contact.

  9. Is this an American thing? If you’re from Europe you just use WhatsApp like always and nothing changes.

  12. Most people I know use iPhone; for everything else there is WhatsApp. If you know already about this app I am not sure why you are asking here to overcomplicate things; what doesn’t WhatsApp do that you want to do?

  14. I don’t use Facebook, but I do keep Facebook Messenger installed for messaging and calling family and friends back home.

  17. i use the default messages app on my iphone, but have it set to receive/send from my email. Then I turned off the resend as SMS setting. This may be working for me, though, because everyone i talk to outside of japan uses iphone/messages.

  19. Signal (https://signal.org/) – works across Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux, has an interface like WhatsApp but is run by a nonprofit, is the only messenger consistently endorsed by computer security professionals, has screen sharing, too.

  25. My parents and grandparents use Messenger, so I call them weekly on there. My siblings and I text through Instagram. I don’t keep in touch with a lot of friends from back home but it’s usually Messenger or Insta

    Line is just for friends still in Japan since everyone basically stops using it once they move back home

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